Rip In Time
by Isobel Rowan
Summary: Six years after returning home, Admiral Janeway must navigate treachery at Starfleet Command and a Borg wife going through a mid-life crisis on a primitive planet. At Starfleet Academy, Dani Janeway and her sister Shannon face impossible professors, excruciating live-fire exercises and stressful choices of life and love. Part 4 in the Time Enough series. Lesbian. Adult Only.
1. Invitation to Mayhem

A/N: Sorry for the delay in the start of the new story. I needed a little break. This is the 4th story in a series of 5. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please leave a review. Reviews are fuel to the writing process.

Also, I updated my avatar on my profile. I put a picture of what I envision Dani Janeway to look like. Check it out. (If you don't see it, please be patient. The system said it would take 24 hours to appear.)

**Rip In Time  
****By Isobel Rowan**

**Part 1: Starfleet Academy  
****Chapter 1: Invitation to Mayhem**

Rich Patterson's wife bolted up, her curly hair an unruly mop on her head. A light, rhythmic chime in their bedroom marked an incoming message from Starfleet.

"Are we being attacked?" Mrs. Patterson murmured as her eyes scanned the dimly lit bedroom.

Patterson sat up and patted his wife's thigh. "No, dear," he murmured. "I'm Starfleet Academy commandant now. Remember?"

Her face instantly lost its taut look of pain and she fell back. "Then why can't they send a message at a decent hour?" She rolled over and covered her head with his pillow.

"Computer, lights," he said. His wife groaned at the intrusion of photons while he covered his bare chest and gray boxer shorts in a gray silken robe.

In his study, he ordered lights and sat at his desk, trying to look like he hadn't just been awakened. Then he hit the incoming message. "Jennings," he said to the man whose three-dimensional image of his head was bobbing atop of a projector on his desk. "Don't tell me the cadets are out of sauerkraut again."

Admiral J.R. Jennings shook off the gest and sobered quickly. "It's a little more…_involved_, Commandant."

The good-natured Patterson's face became instantly hard. "What is it then?"

"Cadets have broken containment at the Kapustin Lunar Station."

Patterson's eyes narrowed. Kaput, as it was called, was a Starfleet Academy installation on the dark side of the moon, used to drill cadets through _live fire_ exercises. "How far was the breach?"

"Squads have engaged at the Presidio."

"The Presidio?!" Patterson wiped his mouth. His nose flared as he tried to calm himself. The Presidio was the campus grounds of Starfleet Academy. It was almost sacrilegious to consider that phasers had been fired there. He glanced at the chronometer and his face reddened again.

"This exercise was supposed to have concluded 12 hours ago, Admiral Jennings. And it was supposed to remain contained, just as all previous 220 previous exercises had."

This failure registered with the Academy's Director of Educational Services. Jennings brushed his forehead. "I know, Commandant, but you know how difficult this latest crop of cadets has been."

Patterson snorted and he shook his head. "Do I even need to ask _who_ is involved?"

Jennings touched a control and the squad leaders began to scroll across Patterson's screen. "Janeway, E. Janeway, S. Wildman, D. Paris, M." He closed his eyes, not wanting to see the line of names he knew all too well. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "How did they transport to the Presidio?"

"Kaput was on lock down, per procedures."

"Per procedures," Patterson echoed with a hint of a sneer. "This crop of cadets is graduating next spring, Jennings. Routine procedures are an invitation to mayhem for them. I want them rounded up. Now! Before someone gets hurt."

"I've spoken with Squad Leader Cadet Shannon Janeway," Jennings finally admitted.

"And?"

"She apologized for violating procedures—"

"Apologized?!"

Jennings locked his jaw shut while Admiral Patterson finished a barrage of swear words. When he'd composed himself, Patterson added: "After apologizing, did she volunteer to lead her squad in."

Jennings shook his head slowly before whispering, "No."

"Did you order it, Admiral?"

"In a manner of speaking," he said.

Patterson held his breath, as he waited for his subordinate to reply.

"I asked."

Patterson swallowed his lips and ran a hand over his brow. "What else did she say, Jennings?"

"That she would fulfill her orders of the exercise—seek out and eliminate the enemy."

Patterson let his head fall back.

"Should I call Admiral Janeway?" Jennings finally asked.

Patterson's head snapped back. "No, absolutely not! That's the last thing she needs right now." He pointed a finger at the man's three-dimensional image, distorting it somewhat. "I want _you_ to find them and bring them in before we have any casualties. Then I want their privileges revoked."

"They've had privileges revoked from the last infraction a week—"

"Do you realize," Patterson said, "that the term hasn't even started yet?"

"It started for me," Jennings said coolly.

Patterson rolled his eyes. "Just apprehend them, Admiral."

"Aye, Commandant."

Patterson fell back as the photons from the communique dissipated. "Damn," he growled.

=/\=

The console of Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway displayed three dimensional images of the latest data regarding the collapse of a neutron star beyond Federation space. But it was vital for Starfleet command to identify the direction of the sun's rotation, which in turn would determine the direction of its gamma ray burst—the brightest and most deadly form of radiation in the universe. It could require the evacuation of Federation planets in a few hundred years.

She squinted, trying to focus on the blurring data. She glanced at the chronometer. Four hundred hours. She took a long drag of her coffee and grimaced. It was cold. She stood up and stretched and marched to the replicator station in her Starfleet HQ office.

"Coffee, black."

It materialized in front of her. She cupped it gingerly and blew into it before drinking. That's when she heard the footsteps behind her.

"Hello, admiral," said a syrupy voice.

Kathryn tried not to shudder. She painted the most pleasant smile she could and spun around. "Oh, hello, Commander Sinclair. What are you doing here this late?"

Commander Albigence Sinclair was much younger than Kathryn, a fact he tried to always emphasize. His eyes were too small for his face, his nose too sharp and his lips too plump. The worst part was he thought he was a handsome man. He hiked a thigh onto her desk and she glared at it for a microsecond before deciding that this was not a battle she wanted to fight just yet. But she could shorten the visit. "How can I help you?" she asked.

"Whoa, aren't we formal?"

She smiled slightly and blinked, maintaining a waiting posture. Any small talk would no doubt prolong this visit from Starfleet Command's worst bootlicker.

"Has anyone ever told you that you are beautiful when you cut to the chase?" He leaned an elbow on his thigh and wet his lips.

"Yes," she said, breaking the vise-like grip of his eye contact. She marched around her desk, to put it between them. "_My wife_."

He chuckled, shaking his shoulders. "You're never going to let me forget that, are you, Admiral?"

_Terrific_, she thought crossly. She'd wanted to avoid getting sucked into a conversation with him. A strategy she'd just shot to hell with three careless words. She pursed her lips and shook her head. She did not want to relive their first few weeks working side by side after she'd been assigned to Starfleet Headquarters.

"I swear to you, Admiral," he said sweetly. "I didn't know you were married when I asked you out on a date. I mean, who wears their wedding ring on their right hand?"

"I do," she said curtly. She planted her fists on her hips. _Time to end this boring game._ "How can I help you today, Commander?"

He stood up, tugged his tunic down with one hand and offered her an obsolete padd with the other.

She stared at the antiquated device with a hint of disdain.

"I've been authorized to give you this," he said with a smirk.

She squinted at it, wondering what news she could possibly…

"We've received a communique from Commodore Seven of Nine," he said.

Before he'd even finished, Janeway had taken the padd.

Sinclair chuckled again. "It's been seven months. I _thought _you might be a little eager."

Janeway tried her best to ignore the man, scanning the written record to see how Seven was, if she was wounded or needed anything. It was a dry, concise treatise written by a former Borg drone, a report she'd been accustomed to reading on Voyager. But she was disappointed with the lack of detail. "When will she be returning to her duties here?"

Sinclair became suddenly withdrawn, shrugging a shoulder as an answer. "Her mission parameters have been achieved. She is free to return anytime."

Janeway felt a pit form in her belly. But she did not give in to fear's debilitating call. She never gave in to that feeling. Not when her ship was lost for 12 years in the Delta Quadrant. Not when they faced a militant Borg Queen alone. Certainly not now. "Has she been told?"

"Of course!" he said a little disgusted with the insinuation.

Janeway looked again at the words that Seven had written somewhere in Federation space. "So where is she?"

"Fourth planet of the Altinak system," he said, tipping his head to study her face. "You don't know that by now?"

Janeway glanced down at the message. The date stamp read 70768.85. It had been sent two weeks ago. She looked up and with all the dignity she could muster, she said, "No, you are dismissed, Commander."

The man straightened again. "There's one more thing, if I may, Admiral."

"What is it?"

"Seven's mission was among her own kind."

"Her own kind? Humans?"

"Borg." He said the word, emphasizing each of the sounds. "Liberated Borg to be precise. Maybe she needs to be with her own."

Janeway narrowed her eyes. "Or maybe she was doing her duty."

He chuckled. "Yah, that's it." He walked; no he sauntered out of her office.

She couldn't understand his sudden glee at the end. No, she did understand it. He never liked Seven, constantly criticizing her work. It was basic jealousy and it was ugly.

Janeway knew that working at Starfleet Headquarters would have its own set of difficulties. The changeless scenery, detachment from the excitement and the monotony at times. But never did she believe that the backstabbing and the sheer pettiness of some of her coworkers would be the worst to endure. It had been worse for Seven. "That's why she'd jumped at this long-term assignment," Janeway mumbled, still standing there and looking down at the picture of Seven in a frame.

It was a holo of Seven beside a sun-kissed stream. She was wearing a blue undershirt and a light blue chambray shirt tucked into denim and she was about to place a worm on a fishing hook for Shannon, who stood beside her. She was 6 then and she was sticking her tongue out at the person taking the picture, who would be her 14-year-old sister, Dani. It had been taken during one of their holodeck "staycations." She lifted the holo and smiled.

Now she had two announcements to tell her daughters. Seven's news was good. She was well and she was alive! "Computer, locate Commander Powers."

"_Commander Powers is…"_

"Present and accounted for, Admiral," Powers said at the same time that the computer replied: _"Section 12 of Starfleet Headquarters."_

Janeway glanced at the chronometer. It was nearly Five Hundred hours. "Remind me to lock my doors when you leave for the day."

Powers furrowed her ice blonde brows. "Very well," she said, a little puzzled.

"I got a little visit from…." Janeway pointed eastward in the direction of Sinclair's office and mouthed his name.

"Ah," Powers said, understanding dawning. "Shall I spray repellent as well?"

Janeway chuckled. "I'm not sure it will help," she said. "What are you doing here so early, anyway?"

"Is it early?" she said. "Oh, I finished my cardios, felt extraordinarily energized and decided I would check in with my taskmaster."

Janeway gave her a sardonic look. "Since you're here, would you like to have breakfast with the girls?"

"Are they expecting you, Admiral Janeway?"

Janeway waved a hand. "Of course not. Every time I try to see my own daughters, it's like a damned invasion of pompous protocol officers and mute honor guards," she said. "No, thank you. Let's just take a stroll to the Presidio. Hmm?"

"You're the taskmaster," she said, extending her hand for the Admiral to lead the way.

"Yes, I am," she said with a snort as they left their joined offices.

=/\=

Admiral Janeway tucked the obsolete padd under her arm as she neared the Starfleet Academy Guard House. She'd sent Commander Powers on ahead to secure tables for them, in the event of a breakfast rush.

The Presidio stretched out before her in gray and white buildings, all with the signature Starfleet look. But this morning it lay quiet and twinkling in the predawn.

She saw that the guard, a Bolian by the looks of his blue skin, straightened, waiting for her approach. So she stopped and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. The Pacific Ocean left a soft tang in the moist air. It took her back to her own days of study in one of the Quadrant's finest institutions of higher learning. But that had been a long time, and two quadrants ago.

She marched up to the guard house and gave her name.

The young man looked barely older than her two daughters, maybe he was 21, if that. _Of course, at my age, everyone looks like a baby,_ she thought with a smirk. He wore lieutenant pips. Probably serving light duty for some reason.

The young man diligently searched through the database, but he seemed a bit nervous. "I'm sorry, Admiral Janeway," he said, trying to deepen his voice artificially. "You aren't on any visitors list."

A corner of her mouth twitched. The young man's uniform starch was about to herniate a disk of his. "Check again, Lieutenant," she said, preferring to soften the whip until she needed it.

He thumbed again and pursed his lips. "No ma'am," he said.

"Admiral," she replied.

"Huh?" He finally looked up at her.

She quirked her mouth amiably. "I'm an admiral and I can assure you I'm on your list."

"I can assure you that you are not."

"Did you download HQ updates to your station manifest, Lieutenant?"

A light brightened his face and he flipped his right hand over. A 3-D screen projected from it and his left hand whirled through the screens.

She read her name backwards, a few seconds before he found it. "Here you are," he said. "I apologize."

"No apology necessary, Lieutenant," she said. "I appreciate your thoroughness."

"It's not the error for which I apologize," he said. "The Presidio has been closed to…."

Before he could say anymore, a blue phaser fire arced over them. It hit a tree and sparked a small fire. The Bolian lieutenant squinted in that direction, as he hit the com badge. "Fire on Presidio grounds. Repeat, fire on Presidio grounds."

Before he'd even finished the call to emergency personnel, Janeway could hear the sirens.

"Status report, lieutenant?'

Two more phasers arched over their position, both coming from the tree. There was a blast in the opposite direction, a blaze erupted from a bush illuminating the origin of a series of swear words. A cadet, dressed in a gray uniform with red quilted yoke, was hitting his arm, as flames 20 centimeters high licked up angrily.

Janeway went into Captain mode. "Lieutenant, your extinguisher!"

She grabbed the copper cylinder and ordered him to call for assistance. Then she ran toward the young man. She was grateful that no one had improved on the simplicity of the fire extinguisher design. She pulled the clip and aimed the nozzle to spray white fire suppressing foam onto his arm. He fell to his knees, his injured arm raised and smoking.

"Cadet, are you all right?" she asked tenderly.

"Admiral Janeway?" His lips were cracked and his face was dirty. But Janeway still recognized him.

"Dukat Wildman?" she said, placing a hand under his arm to help him.

"Yes, Admiral," he said in a cracked voice.

His dark obsidian eyes were the exact ones that had belonged to her former first officer, Chakotay.

By this time, the medics swirled around them. One removed his sleeve with practiced efficiency, while the other gave him a hypospray. Into this foray, Commandant Patterson walked. "How are you, son?" he asked.

He stood and came to attention, making the medic with the dermal regenerator have to correct his aim. "I'm fine, Commandant."

He looked Dukat Wildman up and down and shook his head. Then he noticed the flag officer flanking his right. "Admiral," he said. "Does Dukat look fine?"

She clucked her teeth. "I've seen better, Commandant," she said.

"I want to return to my squad," he said hoarsely.

Janeway favored him with a faint smile. But Patterson was in charge. "That's not going to happen, Cadet," he said. "In fact, I want you to order your squad to stand down."

Dukat looked from Patterson to his former Captain. "You want me to surrender, Admiral?"

Janeway softened her expression. "Think of it as living to fight another day."

"That's the spirit," Patterson said, winking at Janeway.

"It's bunk," Dukat replied.

Patterson hardened his expression. "Maybe so, but those are my rules. Now order your squad here."

Dukat reached up and tore what was left of his commbadge from his shirt and slipped his paper-thin wrist padd from the back of his hand, giving them both to the Commandant. "With all due respect, I won't have them surrender."

Patterson pursed his lips, and gestured to one of the medics. "What is Cadet Wildman's prognosis?"

"His arm will be sore, but he should make a full recovery."

Patterson nodded toward one of the security officers behind the lad. "Take Cadet Wildman to his quarters, where he is to remain for the duration of this exercise."

Dukat stared directly at Admiral Janeway. "This isn't fair," he said. "And you know it."

"Maybe not, Cadet," she said. "But life isn't fair and the Borg are not fair and Breen are not fair."

"Right now, we aren't interested in fairness as much as safety," Patterson added.

"We did what you asked. Sought out and eliminated our enemy."

"But you violated the preconditions of the test. You can't pull a Kirk on my watch, mister."

Dukat was about to walk away when Patterson placed a hand on his shoulder. "Not so fast, Cadet. I need your phaser."

Dukat smirked, reached behind him, lifted his tunic and untucked it from his pants. "It's only set to stun," he said as he placed the weapon in Patterson's hand.

"Stun still starts fires. Good night, Wildman."

"Good night, Commandant. Good night, Admiral."

The officers watched the young man limp away. "I thought this exercise was supposed to be over yesterday," Janeway said.

"Me, too, Katie," he said. "But those damned cadets sprung from a box like..."

"Cobras," she said with a smirk.

He met hers with one of his own. "I was supposed to have an easy time here as Commandant of Starfleet Academy," he said. "But your spawn are making it anything but a cake walk."

The pair walked back to the guard house. "I'm sure you've thought of this, Commandant, but have you ordered them all to surrender."

"Jennings has tried on at least two separate occasions. They are maintaining radio silence."

"Their assumption is you've been compromised."

"Or they are rabidly competitive like someone else I know," he said, giving her a small elbow to her ribs.

Janeway allowed herself a small chuckle. "How about some help with the hellions?"

"Are you sure?" he asked gravely.

She stopped and looked up at him. "Why did you not ask before?"

Patterson had known Katie Janeway since she was a girl. He knew he was too sensitive to her, like a father and a daughter. "I knew you were preoccupied with your new post and with…" he let his words trail off.

"Seven is fine," she whispered.

He stopped, the glow on his face was more brilliant than the rising sun behind them. "Is that a fact?"

"We got a communique. Her mission has wrapped up." She bluffed her way, hoping he didn't ask too many questions.

"Well, good," he said with renewed enthusiasm. "Let's round up these upstarts."

"It'll be just like old times," she said, earning herself a slap on the shoulder from the old man.

=/\=

Squad Leader Cadet Shannon Janeway crossed her arms, the breeze blowing through her shoulder-length locks. She stood high above the McCoy Medical Center at the center of The Presidio. She'd alternately watched her mother and the Commandant with binoculars that she now tucked into a thigh pocket.

"Vee," she bellowed over her shoulder. "Get me my sister on a secure line."

The Denobulan, named Veric Rosinex, was stout but looked much heavier because of the overload of material in his thigh pockets. "This is Starfleet Academy," he said needlessly. "There are no secure channels."

She turned and gently pushed him toward the roof hatch. "We'll make our own code then. I want you to run to the guard house and send this message to Dani: Cap's afoot. Pita's BF taken. Parameters morphed." Shannon stared at him with the same blue eyes that graced her Borg mother and the same prominent dimpled chin. "Repeat it back."

Vee stuttered for a moment and then cleared his throat. "Cap's Pita. A foot taken. Param—"

"Stop," Shannon said evenly. Vee was Cadet Fourth Class. This was first year and he always seemed to get flustered under pressure. She used to be the same way until a squad leader took her under his wing. Now she was the squad leader and she managed him softly. This time she said each part and had him repeat section by section. "Okay, Vee. We're counting on you."

The pair descended into the power service shaft where the rest of Delta Squad was waiting. The small room was dark, with large metal cables that serviced the entire building with power.

Shannon handed a ration bar to Vee and sat down on the greasy floor. "Eat first," she ordered. Then she unwrapped her own. It was about six centimeters and thick, the color and consistency of oats. "This tastes like…" she chewed a bit more. "Blood sausage lasagna."

The rest of her team, a Talarian male and a Bajoran female, both chuckled. "Is that a death wish?" the Talarian asked. Yako Bantai was blond, except on the cranial protrusions at the top of his head. He was aggressive and the first of his species to enter Starfleet Academy. He was also Shannon's second in command.

Shannon snorted. "It was conversation, Yako," she said.

The Bajoran remained quiet, which was usually her custom. Tycie Rohl was a deep thinker, Shannon realized. When they made eye contact, Rohl asked what they were all thinking. "It is time to end it?"

Shannon bit down hard on ration bar. "After Dani." She stopped chewing, her eyes bouncing between her two squad members. "It won't be long. _Admiral _Janeway just became involved."

Vee stopped chewing for a second. "Will your sister surrender?"

Shannon shrugged. "Not likely, but we can try."

Yako worked his head and finally cracked his back. It was his way of relieving stress.

Rohl leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. Shannon did the same after Vee left them.

=/\=

A few hours earlier, Cadet Dani Janeway ordered her squad into the faculty quarters. They were put on the defensive when they lost one of their crewmembers on Kapustin Lunar Station. Delta Team, led by her sister, and Omega team, led by her old nemesis Dukat Wildman had surrounded them in the station cargo bay.

She and her crew commandeered the shuttle craft of the visiting Director of Educational Services, Admiral Jennings. Surrounded inside by opposing forces, Dani had ordered her squad to beam down to the McCoy Medical Center, the _only_ transporter platform with an operational link to Kaput. She'd taken it, but that just meant that the other squads pursued them.

While they struggled to escape the Medical Center, Dani began to receive telemetry across her visual centers. Only she could see the green text that would cross her field of vision with bizarre orders or sarcastic remarks. She did not know the origin of the words but she'd received them for as long as she could remember. Their appearance was usually not welcome. Though the words had managed to save her and Cappie a few times from certain harm, its commands were illogical at best and absurd at worst. With her in command, the scrolling green text was an unwelcome nuisance.

"_Go to the faculty housing unit. Find floor 3, section beta, suite 360." _

Dani ordered her squad to follow. They were nearly out of breath and out of room to run. "Dani," growled her second in command. Pim Taranis was a Zaldan, a very large and imposing figure. "This is crazy."

"Trust me," she said, leading them to their new destination.

He stopped, making the two other squad members—Myrie Solon, a Vulcan and Vyatt Marzora, a Rigellian—members run into him. His handsome face was tense, his jaw muscles rippling with anger.

Dani stopped, putting her hands on her hips and looking up. Pim crossed his arms and Dani perceived him to be digging in his obstinate heels. She inhaled deeply and walked back to the squad.

"Get your Zaldan ass to suite 360 before I kick it there myself?" His face softened and his arms dropped. But still he didn't move.

With her lanky six foot two frame, Dani easily matched the man's height. Though he still outweighed her by a good 50 kilos. "Do you get me, you puny Degebian mountain goat?"

Pim was from a culture with an intense hatred of courtesy and so he backed away and nodded, gesturing for her to lead. "Gotcha," he said, employing a word Dani had used often.

"Are you certain the occupants are away?" Myrie asked in a soft tone that she usually employed after her squad leader had had a run in with the volatile Cadet Taranis.

Dani lifted her brow and offered a smile to the logically-driven squad member, Myrie. "What's the fun in telling you, Myrie," she said. Though in truth, Dani did not know. She hoped the text messages wouldn't lead her that away.

She tried to enter but the computer informed them the door was sealed.

"Unfortunate," Myrie said in that Vulcan computer mode.

Dani smirked at Pim, before she popped the panel cover beside the door.

Myrie seemed a little disturbed by that action, though she quickly schooled her face to placid calm. "That is illegal in every quadrant of the Federation," she said neutrally.

"Only if I get caught, Cadet," she said, smiling when she'd manually disengaged the locking mechanism.

The team crouched, phasers at the ready. Dani silently ordered Pim to search the rooms with a deft hand signal. Only after he'd given the all clear, did Dani stand to her full height and tuck the phaser into her thigh holster.

She quickly scanned the room, while quizzing Pim.

"Number of rooms?"

"Five rooms—two bedrooms, one ensuite, one living and dining."

Dani nodded in acknowledgement as her eyes skimmed over the pleasantries of egg-shaped sofa at the center over a white carpet. She ordered pointed at the communication console by the far wall. "Marzora," she said pointing at it. "Check the Academy newsfeeds for intel."

As she scanned past a window, she nodded for Pim to take up watch. Then she finally noticed that Myrie Solon had been immediately drawn to the large books set upon each small table that bracketed the sofa. One included titles like "Experiment in the Laws of Hyperspace Physics." It was the other she collected and perused there.

To Dani's surprise, Vyatt Marzora spoke up first. Fourth, as Dani called her, was a Rigellian, who was in her first year at the Academy. She had a crude face that resembled more of a skull. White hair that had been braided into delicate strands cascaded the face, softening the features.

"Eridani," she said, in a nasally voice. "News reports suggest that at least two squads are in custody. Stefram Kim's Alpha squad and Tisha Yuray's Theta squad have been apprehended."

Dani continued to scan, trying to determine the reason the Messenger, as she now called the text messages, had sent her here. She clucked her teeth. "I expect more of Mr. Kim. He's…"

"A Voyager Brat, after all."

Dani stopped and marveled at her team. They'd joined her oft-repeated mantra in unison. "Do I say that a lot?"

"If by a lot you mean exactly five-point-two times daily," Myrie stated. "Then, yes, you say that a lot."

She snorted. "You're a smart ass Vulcan," Dani said. She raised her hand when Myrie tried to protest. "And don't give me the usual Vulcan BS about exacting accuracy blah blah blah. I know better."

"You lived for 12 years with then-Commander Tuvok," Myrie said, trying to echo another oft-repeated phrase of Dani's.

Dani winked at Myrie, who tipped her head to one side, a little bemused for a Vulcan. _She was really cute_, Dani thought. The black hair was straight and hung down in a luscious curtain around her head. Her almond eyes were tilted and she never smiled, except for sarcasm and only then for just a microsecond.

Myrie's stare turned into a vise and Dani looked away. "I'm going to look around," she said. "In the meantime, I want you to—"

"Dani, do you wish for me to continue the newsfeed intel?" Marzora asked.

It was always too easy to overlook the Rigellian. She was the singular introvert in a squad of talkative and sometimes overbearing members. Dani nodded for Marzora to proceed and she turned to face the woman, giving her full attention. It was a courtesy she reserved for few.

Marzora glanced at the news feed that scrolled in a three-dimensional space above her. It was focused for her coordinates so the information was distorted for the rest of them.

"Academy security has been deployed," she said. "The Presidio is on lockdown."

Dani scrunched her nose, but did not comment. "Is that it?"

Fourth nodded, as her hand swiped through the newsfeed for a faster view. "Yes."

"Keep looking," she said. "In the meantime…" Dani glanced at her squad. Their faces black streaks and their uniforms were torn. Then she heard Pim's stomach growl.

"I think we can hole out here for a few. Let's get some grub, recycle our clothes and—"

"Shower?" Marzora inquired.

"Absolutely," Dani said. "While we can. That's the first law of survival."

She pointed toward the bedrooms. "I'm going to have a look around."

=/\=

Dani Janeway walked quietly and cautiously to the first bedroom. It was, by far, the largest room in the suite, filled with calming tones of browns and greens. The bed, about three meters across, was slightly askew in the center of the room. There was a rock garden with cascading water to one corner and a sealed library to another. It was a minimalist retreat.

She closed the door quietly and used the communication console by the bed. Within a few microseconds, a woman on the other end answered and her three-dimensional image was projected to full height in front of Dani. It was nearly holo-quality, but Dani's hand easily sailed through the image.

"Hi Tova," Dani said quietly.

In the image, Tova seemed to be setting a brush down. It dissolved from view. She adjusted large hoop earrings and began to tie back her long dark brown hair. "Dani," she purred. "I thought you'd be in class already."

"Tomorrow," she said.

Tova looked around and her finely sculpted eyebrows lifted. "Where are you? That doesn't look like Starfleet issue dorm room."

"A friend's," she said.

Finally, Tova locked her gaze on the woman's face. "You look tired," she said. "Are you feeling well—You're going to cancel. Aren't you?"

Dani strangled a grumble in her throat. "Actually, about brunch…"

Tova's face fell, along with her lanky arms to her side. "You are, aren't you!"

"Something's come up, baby," Dani said.

Her arms curled in front of her ample chest. "What is it? You aren't breaking up, are you?"

"No. No!" she said. The last word was said a little too loud and Dani peered over her shoulder. There was a muffled reply. "You okay, Dani?"

Fortunately it was the masculine voice and she answered it, all the while her eyes pinned on beautiful Tova's face. "Fine, Pim. Thanks."

"Who is Pim?"

"He's a crewmember—I mean, squad member."

"She sounds butch," Tova sneered.

Dani couldn't help but snort. "Yeah, but _he's _totally not my type."

Tova looked away and Dani tried to reach for her, distorting the image slightly. She stepped back to let the projectors correct themselves. "Tova, baby. I'll explain later. I just won't make it today."

"I was scheduled to work, you know. I gave it up to be with you on your last vacation day."

"I know," she said softly. "I'll make it up to you."

"Promise?"

"Absolutely."

Tova's face softened and her pouty lips smooth themselves out. "Okay, Dani," she said, the purr back in her voice. "Maybe I'll try to get back in the rotation today."

Dani gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry," she replied in that special voice she only used for Tova.

Tova waved it off. "I'll live," she said. "I better call my boss."

The image went blank and Dani manipulated the comm station until she wiped its memory core of the last call. Then she moved on.

The second bedroom, a third the size of the first, was as brutally disordered as the first was peaceful. Dani picked her way over strewn clothes that smelled ripe and trinkets that littered the floor.

She was about to turn away when she saw a holo that looked familiar. She walked to the edge of a bed that was two meters across and took up nearly the expanse of the room's width. Its red sheets remained unmade. At the headboard was a simple shelf. There was a glowstone whose luminesce was fading. A plasma globe with a small figurine at the center. But what interested Dani was a small holoprojector.

She lifted it to her nose, examining it in micro-detail. She saw a picture of her sister. From the length of her hair, it looked to be recent. Shannon was smiling and pointing at the photographer. She pressed the controls and another picture appeared, this one of Shannon lying down. She was visible to the tops of her breast and she was bare. Her eyes were closed in apparent ecstasy and her mouth was open in a universal "o." Dani tried to put it back, but the Messenger intervened.

"_Look at the rest,"_ it said.

She hoped she didn't have to see any pictures of her sister in _flagrante delicto_. So she bit down hard on her molars and pressed the controls again. It was uncomfortable but not wretched, until she got to the last one. She saw the man's back with her sister underneath, together. Together together. She didn't have anything against heterosexual union since most people came from it and did it. She just didn't want to have to be reminded that her sister participated in it. The last picture was of the pair, sitting up, fully clothed and laughing. That's when she recognized him.

"Tybelius Parmiller," she hissed. He'd made her first few weeks on earth a hell because of his parents' lawsuit and the protracted feud over what actually happened on Outpost 23 between Ty and Shannon. Dani's Borg mother, Seven of Nine, had remained adamant to the end that Tybelius Parmiller was as malevolent as the Borg Queen herself. In the end, the courts ruled that the families would have to undergo arbitration, at which point Admiral Janeway called for a cessation of familial hostilities.

But Shannon had been forbidden from seeing the man.

Dani decided to put the holo back. She certainly didn't want to dredge up this bit of Janeway history.

"_Take it,"_ the Messenger said.

She grimaced. "Are you nuts?"

"_I have my reason."_

Dani cursed aloud because the Messenger always resorted to this ploy. It knew something she did not.

"_And I'm always right,"_ it said.

"Damn you."

It sent a note of visual laughter, which only managed to irritate Dani. "Why should I take it?"

"_Because it's a part of the plan."_

"Plan!" Dani sneered. "But why?"

"_Their love affair needs to end."_

"Why can't you just answer the damn question?"

"_Ask your Borg mother."_

Dani closed her eyes. She hadn't seen Seven of Nine in more than seven months. She hadn't heard from her in five. She didn't even know if she'd ever hear from her again.

"_Don't be so melodramatic. You'll hear from her within the week."_

"Really?"

"_Have I ever been wrong?"_

The Messenger was unfailingly accurate, if a bit cryptic.

"You know I hate you, don't you?"

"_Irrelevant. You must comply."_

"Are you Borg?"

"_No more Borg than you."_

Dani knew better than to continue. The Messenger would just get more bizarre and more irritating with its mysterious answers. She slipped the mini holoprojector into a pocket and went back to join the others.

=/\=

Pim was eating a sausage as he peered out the window, taking the first watch of the day. He lifted the long tube of meat in triumph and smiled, revealing some of his chewed meat. Dani tried not to grimace and she nodded, slapping him on the back as a salute when she walked by.

Marzora remained diligently studying the newsfeed, while Myrie proffered an antiquated book of science to her. "Squad Leader Cadet," Myrie said in her customary formality. "I believe this book will be useful."

Both Pim and Dani snorted. She weighed it, frowning at an interested Pim. "It would make a poor projectile," she said seriously.

Pim grunted in agreement, while Myrie's eyebrows lowered. She studied the book again. "But that is not its purpose," she said. "Nor the reason I have offered it to you."

Dani handed it back to Myrie. "What could an old tome possibly tell me," she asked.

"Though the theories are indeed antiquated, I believe it remains a useful clue," she said. Myrie opened to the very first page and read the inscription. "Commander Trevers Parmiller." She lifted the book gingerly, showing a bookplate with gold lettering.

Dani walked to the replicator. "Coffee, black," she said. Then she ordered a meat biscuit and sat down at the table. "This must be Commander Parmiller's family residence?" she said around a mouthful.

Marzora twisted around to reveal a holo of Parmiller and his wife Commander Rascilla Sebosi. "I believe he teaches fourth year hyperspace theory and she teaches second year cosmobiology."

Dani shrugged. "It is what it is."

Myrie, her face now washed and her presence as fragrant as citrus sash-savas of her own homeworld, stood next to her near the replicator station. She requested a bowl of shur t'plomik and a steaming cup of theris-masu, placing both on the table next to her squad leader.

Myrie took a loud slurp of soup and closed her eyes. When she'd finished her religious meditation, she locked gazes with Dani. "Your aphorism is most superfluous," she said, as if she were discussing the petals of an inconsequential flower in the garden to an engineer.

Dani grinned. "As most aphorisms are," she replied, with a hint of Vulcan mimicry.

Myrie stopped her spoon mid-air. "What is the next course of action, Cadet Janeway?"

"I believe…" Dani said pompously as she stretched, arching her back away from the table with her arms held high. "That our next course of action will be a small nap."

"Nap?" the three asked, surprised.

"In rounds," she added in her normal voice. "Marzora first."

Myrie seemed surprised, though she disguised well with a cough. "I meant, Dani, rather what would be our next course of action vis-à-vis the exercise?"

Dani looked at Marzora, who stood. She thumbed the bedrooms behind her. Marzora gave a large yawn and then seemed surprised at its ferocity. "We can relate," Dani replied softly to her. "Now git. We'll wake you in two."

Marzora stopped and looked at her commanding officer. "I wish to know the battle plan as well," she said.

Dani stood up, her empty dishes in hand. "Well, if you need a blow-by-blow, I'm going to recycle these dishes, then my clothes, take a shower and get more coffee."

"Cadet," Marzora chided softly.

Dani laughed and shook her head. "Okay, okay," she said with a chuckle. "We are going to wait here in the lap of luxury until my sister Shannon gives up."

Myrie tipped her head to one side. "Your logic is flawed."

"How so?"

"What if the Parmillers return?"

Dani blew out some air with an exaggerated huff, lifting a few long strands of auburn hair from her forehead. "Details, details," she said. "I'll send Pim to surveill the gate."

"It's too stuffy in here," he admitted happily.

Dani nodded in acknowledgement. "The rest is a waiting game, my friends."

=/\=

Dani had started to dream that she was back on Voyager, as her captain. The Borg had just made contact and she'd accidentally revealed that her sister was aboard. Instantly Borg drones materialized on Voyager's bridge, one piercing Shannon's neck with assimilation tubules.

She was shaking…

"Eridani, wake up! You are experiencing parasomnia," she said.

Dani bolted up and blinked. The lights were on full. The windows were dark and she started up at a refreshed looking Vulcan woman whose serenity was always intoxicating. "Where am I?" she asked, throwing her legs over the bed.

"You have been sleeping in Commander Parmiller's bed for approximately one-point-two-five hours," she said. "Less than allowed because Pim has returned."

"Returned…" she prompted, as she rubbed her temples.

"Returned from his surveillance of the visitor's gate," she said. "He has returned with a…guest."

At the last word, Dani shot to her feet. "Who is the guest?"

"Cadet Rosinex."

"From Delta Squad," Dani said, brushing past her subordinate.

Rosinex was sitting and slurping his drink and gorging himself on an omelet. "Thank you," he said to Pim. "We are holed up in a …" Rosinex stopped himself from revealing vital intel when Dani appeared. "In an unpleasant location without vital resources."

"What are you doing here?" Dani asked.

"Betraying your squad leader for the sake of your fat belly?" Pim growled.

Rosinex glared at Pim and inched his chair away from the large, looming man. "I'm here at Cadet Janeway's request," he said. Then he stopped and closed his mouth sharply, looking up as if thinking. "I mean, I was supposed to deliver a message but Kahless here captured me."

"I'm Zaldan, you imp. Not Klingon."

Rosinex shrugged, as if it mattered little.

Dani put a hand on Pim's shoulder. "What's your message, Vee?"

He looked up in memory. "Cap's afoot. Pita's BF taken. Parameters morphed."

He smiled at himself, his posture grew taller.

Pim slammed the younger man's shoulder. "What the hell does it mean?"

Rosinex glared. "How am I supposed to know? She give me the code. Shannon said Dani would know."

Pim glared at his commanding officer. "Do you understand it?"

Dani squinted, looking at a corner of the room. "Admiral Janeway is at The Presidio."

"Yes," Rosinex said with a clap.

Myrie leaned over and shook her head. "We are ensconced illegally," she said. "It would be unwise to make an announcement of our location."

He sat on his hands.

Dani walked to the window port to view out in every direction. "It may indicate that she is working with security to apprehend us."

"That is bad how?" Pim asked.

"She knows our tactics. Hell, she taught them to us," Dani said looking back at the squad.

"What else does the message indicate?" Myrie inquired.

"If I'm right, then Dukat Wildman has been captured."

"That nullifies his team," Marzora replied.

"Maybe," Dani said provisionally. "But it indicates that our enemy isn't our enemy."

Myrie's eyebrows lifted high. "All this from seven words?"

"Metaphors, my dear Vulcan," Dani said.

"BF indicates what?" Myrie asked skeptically.

Dani hid an eye roll under her closed eyelids. "BF. Boyfriend. Shannon used to date Dukat."

"Dukat? Wildman?" Pim asked with a hint of disgust. "He's a pipsqueak turd, just like his father."

The corner of Dani's mouth quirked into a semi-smile. "Maybe. But that's what it means."

"I hate him!" Pim said, launching into a diatribe against his rival.

"He is a Voyager Brat," Myrie stated casually to her teammate.

Pim eyed Dani. "I really hate him, Dani."

"They aren't together anymore, Pim," Dani said. This brightened Pim and Dani studied him with renewed interest. She'd never thought she'd be a matchmaker for her younger sister. Then she shook her head after he burped loudly. A stench wafted her way and she shook her head again. Shannon would never date Pim. She was sure of it.

Just then every comm station in the apartment began to chime with an incoming message. _"To the rogue cadets at The Presidio."_

"Rogue cadets!" Pim said with a snort of pride.

Dani smiled at him.

"_If you surrender now, you will not be penalized."_

Dani bobbed her head to the rhythm of the words, her eyes looking up as she listened. She shook her hand, rolling it forward as if that would make the message accelerate.

"_Present yourselves at the Gate to ensure safety."_

Pim was watching Dani closely. "We aren't going to surrender, are we?"

"Don't be…"

The Messenger chose that moment to interrupt and green text began to scroll over her visual center, superimposing them over Pim's face in the background. _"You should surrender."_

She knew by the suddenly curious expressions in her direction that she must be showing her stress. She wanted to shout at the Messenger and tell him to blow a plasma conduit. But she couldn't and remain sane.

She just shook her head.

"You must," it said again.

"Why?" she thought. "Why, damn you? And this time, no bullshit."

"_Because if you don't, then you will be confined to quarters for two weeks and you will need your autonomy next week to avert a family disaster."_

Dani began to breathe hard but she clamped tightly down on her lips. She turned away and began to pace across the room. "Dani?" some of her squad asked in concern.

She lifted a hand but kept her head down, pacing. The argument in her head required her full attention.

"Why can't you ever be specific?"

"_You won't believe me and you'll spill the beans. I can't let that happen."_

"Why are you doing this?"

"_You'll know in a few years."_

"Will you tell me then?"

"_No, I won't have to. You'll figure it out on your own."_

"This doesn't help."

"_You must comply."_

She executed a crisp military turn and raised herself to her full height. This would be difficult, she knew.


	2. Complications

**Rip In Time**

**By Isobel Rowan**

**Part 1: Starfleet Academy**

**Chapter 2: Complications**

Cadet Dani Janeway looked at each of her crew, a little tic in one eye. The conversation with the Messenger echoed through her mind, particularly the phrase "family disaster." On the heels of that last thought, she straightened to Starfleet attention.

"Sigma Squad, you are hereby ordered to present yourselves to Admiral Patterson at the Gate House post haste."

Pim's face grew hard. Myrie remained impassive while Marzora's jaw dropped.

"You're giving up?" Pim sneered.

She gave a short, curt shake. "We are complying with orders."

Pim threw a porcelain fish across the room, managing to break not only the fish but another object d'art.

Myrie lifted a brow and narrowed her eyes on Dani. "This is a most curious outcome," she said.

As if they'd had the same thoughts, Marzora nodded. "I had not expected you to give _this_ order."

"It reeks," Pim grumbled.

Rosinex seemed to forget he wasn't a part of them. He jumped when Dani said his name. "You return to Delta Squad and report in," she said.

"She won't believe me," he said in a sing-song voice.

Dani shoved him through the door. "Make her believe, Cadet."

The door swung closed, effectively separating them. Still staring at the door, Dani finally turned around. "If it means anything, I'm sorry," she said.

Pim marched past his way to the hallway. "You are going to have a helluva lot of bar credits to give me to make up for this."

Dani smirked, knowing that a joke was as close to Pim Taranis would come to patting her on the back and telling her everything was okay. Marzora followed, in that odd gliding motion that Rigelians were famous for. Dani found herself watching the woman's feet to see exactly how she kept her head from bobbing. The beaded necklaces that crisscrossed her chest clinked together as she walked.

"I would not have predicted this outcome," Myrie said, repeating herself. She strolled past Dani. "I wagered quite a large cache of Vulcan brandy—from my father's personal collection. The Vulcan Ambassador will be most displeased."

"Great," she mumbled.

=/\=

Admiral Janeway sipped from a titanium thermos and tried distractedly to review some more schematics of the neutron star that was near collapse. A different lieutenant was standing guard outside, allowing her the comfort of his console. She found the 3-D projections distracting. Her office possessed one, belonging to Commander Powers. But she wasn't in her office. She posted herself at the Gate House, waiting for her children to surrender.

She started at a knock, looking surprised to find her attaché standing there with a good old fashioned padd.

Powers smiled vaguely in that subtle way of hers. Janeway knew it was the Northern European way of keeping a safe distance from others. But she always suspected more depth and passion under the cool veneer.

Janeway took the fresh padd with a grateful look. Then she handed her the old one that she'd brought along with her this morning. Powers took it and tried to reboot it. But the screen remained dark.

"I, ah, I depleted it," Janeway said, turning off the 3-D emitters on the Gate House console.

"I would gladly have stayed at this post, Admiral," Powers said.

Janeway crinkled her nose. "Oh, I know," she said. "It's just I needed a break from the gray walls of headquarters."

Powers softened her expression, as she looked around to notice the gray walls of the Gate House. "Is…everything all right, Admiral?"

Janeway shook her head, her eyes misting. But she remained composed except for that brief nanosecond. "Seven's mission was completed two weeks ago," she said, almost casually.

Powers drew her lips in and nodded. "Have you not heard from her?"

Janeway shook her head, but she remained staring at the data about the neutron star.

Powers gently tapped the edge of the padd against Janeway's shoulder. "There could be any number of reasons why she remains incommunicado."

Janeway nodded. "I know," she said flatly.

"Perhaps she will surprise you."

A corner of Janeway's mouth quirked. "She's not really the type to plan that sort of thing."

A sound of swallowed laughter brought Kathryn's attention to Powers. The Commander folded her arms across her chest. "I do recall a certain Borg appearing at one of our official banquets and taking you hostage in a side room for approximately forty-five minutes," she said.

Janeway reddened slightly and tipped her head to one side. She nodded with a chuckle, "I remember. She was wearing that god-awful green and purple dress. Do you remember the one?"

Powers raised her hands. "You're daft if you think I'm about to criticize the fashion sense of my superior officer's spouse," she said.

Janeway smiled appreciatively. "She loves bright colors," Janeway explained needlessly.

"And as I recall," Powers said. "She refused to look at anyone but you on her long walk across the banquet hall."

Janeway tucked her chin and nodded. "The men at my table all wanted to know what I'd done wrong. Then when she asked-slashed-ordered me to a private side room…well, I got some low whistles of warning on my way out."

Janeway looked up when she heard a note of purring in the Commander's voice. "The men may have misinterpreted Seven's, ahem, frame of mind, but I certainly did not." She winked at the Admiral who finally laughed out loud.

"I never did thank you for covering for me."

"Indeed you did," Powers said. "You went on holiday for two weeks immediately after that."

Janeway opened her mouth, her eyes smiling. "You make me sound like an ogre of a boss."

Powers sobered slightly. "I am just winding you up a bit, Admiral."

"Just a bit," she said wryly.

"But I'll wager you another two-week holiday that your Seven will surprise you at least once more."

"I hope so," she replied, quieter. Janeway watched the guard raise binoculars to his eyes, lower them abruptly, squint and repeat the process. She stood and looked out of the viewport and then down at the console. She awkwardly pressed one of the 3-D keys, and the layout of the entire Academy complex appeared along with four red dots closing in on their coordinates.

"Why can't we tell who they are?" Janeway asked. "They have their comm badges."

Powers hit another key and shook her head. "They must be jamming their particular carrier waves. It's bloody brilliant."

The pair stepped out of the guard house in time to see four gray suits walking toward them. As they got closer, Janeway shielded her eyes with a hand. "Is that Dani?" she asked.

"I believe it is," Powers said.

"I did not expect this," she said. "I figured she would never give up until Shannon was captured."

Delta Squad was immediately surrounded by Starfleet Security and their weapons confiscated. Janeway ordered the Gate guard to inform Commandant Patterson. She walked out to greet them.

"Good afternoon, cadets," she said congenially. "It's so good of you to join us here."

"We are here at Commandant Patterson's request, Admiral," Dani said with a smile.

But Janeway knew it was a pretense and she tried not to enjoy her daughter's discomfiture.

"Where is he, Admiral?"

Admiral Janeway's small smile evaporated. "Cadet, I believe that I'm the one asking the questions here. Is that understood?"

Dani Janeway nodded and let her arms drop to her side. "Attention!" Dani barked and the other three fell into the same straight stance.

Janeway tucked her hands behind her back and walked past them, as if memorizing each of their faces. "In all of my years in Starfleet, there has never been such a flagrant disregard for safety protocols like the one on Kapustin Lunar Station."

Dani stared straight ahead. It was just as well for both of them. Here they were not mother and daughter. They were Admiral and cadet; in this case, Admiral and wayward cadet. It was unusual, since by and large, Dani had kept a relatively decent record of behavior. But then again, she was also a little older than your average cadet.

Dani had taken the entrance exam to the Academy when most others her age would already have graduated. This enrollment delay also placed her in the same class as her sister. Admiral Janeway was never sure if Shannon had ever persuaded her sister to pursue this career. She believed that Dani would have been content to stay at her mother's farm and raise pigs and milk the cows three times a day. But she always thought her daughters were meant for more. It was a mother's prejudice.

She felt one of the cadets stir behind her and she turned sharply to stare at her. It was the Rigelian. She'd been placed in Dani's squad and was watched closely. They only had two other Rigelians enroll in Starfleet and both of the others had dropped out in their freshman year. What was her name? Janeway hunted for it in her communiques. She made a mental note to find it when she returned to the office. This one seemed unusually docile or content to follow a more aggressive leader.

Janeway stepped close to the Rigelian and continued her dressing down. She thought it prudent to spread the misery.

"Weapons containment interrupted the entire Academy campus and of everyone around us. That is irresponsible, cadets. It is the duty of every Starfleet officer to protect, above all else."

She pulled away from the Rigelian and gave a cursory glance at the Vulcan. Then she trooped to Dani's location. "If I were your commandant," she said, stepping very close to her daughter. "I would not have given been as generous with the terms of surrender today."

Pim jerked his head to Dani and mumbled something.

Janeway shot him a look, causing the man, who towered over her by nearly two heads, to almost recoil a full foot.

"What did you say, cadet?"

He cleared his throat. "Nothing, ma'am."

The admiral's face hardened at the last word, and she squared her body in his direction. "I asked you a question, mister!"

This time, the whip of command in her voice did make him step back. "I informed our squad leader that this really was a surrender for us."

Patterson appeared behind them in full uniform. "Where are the rest of you?" he inquired.

"Only four surrendered," the Gate lieutenant said.

"Make another announcement, sir," Dani said. There was a nanosecond of an uncomfortable silence until she added. "Please. They may not be aware that they've won."

"Let me be clear, cadet," Patterson said. "_They_ didn't win. _You_ didn't win. As far as I'm concerned the entire exercise was an epic disaster. But I'm giving concessions today in the interests of a broader safety. Is that understand, cadet?"

"Yes, sir," she replied.

Patterson looked down the line at each of them. "All of you look as fresh as Ktarian daisies," he sneered.

Pim chuckled but Dani barked an order for him to cut it. He sobered immediately and Admiral Janeway was impressed with the discipline of her daughter's squad.

"Sigma Squad is dismissed to your quarters."

"Commandant," Dani said, stepping forward behind the retreating man.

He stopped and turned. "What is it, Cadet?"

"Are we confined to our quarters?"

"No, you aren't, but I do suggest you review your code of conduct regulations," he snapped. "That is all."

He turned to go and Dani called him again. "Will there be an examination of the code of conduct regulations?"

Patterson sighed. "No, Squad Leader Cadet Janeway, there will not be an examination of the code of conduct regulations. But the very question makes me want to issue one right this second."

Dani continued to stare straight ahead, her face implacable as the space.

"Any other questions, Cadet?"

"No, sir," she said.

"Then you are dismissed."

=/\=

Dani turned and nodded to her squad. "Now that wasn't so bad," she said.

Pim narrowed his eyes on at the figure of Commandant Patterson, who was speaking with Admiral Janeway several meters away from the Guard House. "I didn't like the way he spoke to us," he said. "It was disrespectful."

"Pim," Dani whispered. When he still kept a menacing scowl on Patterson, Dani stepped in front of him, effectively blocking his view. "It's his job to prepare us, Mister Taranis. If we are too soft, then the Breen will chew us up like a Zaldan steak."

Pim's eyes were focused solely on his commanding officer. "Zaldans are vegetarians, squad leader cadet."

"Okay, then, a Zaldan carrot." When he opened his mouth, Dani growled. "Or whatever the hell grass you people chew."

Pim's mouth finally bowed just a little. "Aye, grass, cadet."

"I'll check in with all of you later," she said to the rest of them. "You are dismissed."

She watched them walk toward their rooms in Nimitz Hall before turning to look at her mother. Admiral Janeway was still conferring with Patterson. Then she let her gaze find Commander Powers. She'd known the woman was there all along. But the sight of her always filled her with the strongest urge to just kiss her, one the remote Taliesin Powers would probably slap her for.

Dani made it a practice to never visit her mother's office, never have lunch with her and certain do everything possible and impossible to avoid seeing the alluring ice blonde. She looked up from her wrist padd and smiled ever so delicately. Dani smiled back and walked the few paces to stand beside the woman.

"Hello, Commander," she said, stretching out a hand.

Powers took the extended hand in one of her own to shake. "Hello, Cadet," she said. "What a rare treat to see one of the Janeway girls."

Dani looked away to avoid revealing her grimace at being called a girl. She was nearly 22 and wondered when Powers would see her as such.

"So how are you?" Dani asked.

"Fine, fine," she said.

It was the answer that Dani expected. She wasn't sure if she'd ever received a reply that wasn't the double word. "How is my mother?"

Both of them looked at the Admiral, who was still deep in conversation with the Commandant, no doubt discussing how they were going to flush out the last squad.

"She misses your mother—other mother."

"I do, too," she said.

For the first time, Powers looked into Dani's eyes. "I have a feeling you'll hear something from her."

Dani looked into the mysterious, mismatched eyes of Taliesin Powers and felt like she was falling in. "I think you're right," she whispered.

"How are you, Dani?" Powers asked in a quiet voice.

"Well, besides being chewed out by my mother in front of my entire squad AND letting my sister win the coveted title of Kaput champion, I'm actually not doing too bad." _Especially standing next to the most beautiful and enigmatic woman in the world,_ Dani thought with a smile on her lips.

Powers looked around, as if she were counting the Starfleet security detail on the crowns of each building. "Your methods are unorthodox, Cadet," she said, finally looking back at Dani with a look that made her mouth go dry. "But I can't argue with results, especially not during the heat of battle."

Dani smiled a great big one. She knew her mouth was too wide and her eyes were too crinkly. But she couldn't help it. That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her. When she continued to stare at the mismatched eyes. The left was light slate grey eyes with darker grey circling the rim and the other was hammered gold with a starburst of green and blues. It was like looking into nebulas that were as large as the universe.

Only after Powers' thin, sculpted eyes brows rose a few millimeters did Dani jerk away. She touched her mouth, to make sure she wasn't drooling. "Thank you, Commander," she finally said, when reason returned. "That's very kind of you to say."

Powers looked at her wrist padd. "How long do you think it will take your sister to surrender?" When she looked up, Dani quirked a brow in inquiry. "Neither the Admiral nor I were able to have breakfast."

Dani's stomach growled on cue. She patted it and reddened. "I ate a little something, but…" Dani decided she liked the coy laugh Powers gave, with its sultry lilts. Suddenly she was scorching. She glared up at the August sun. Temperatures in San Francisco were never extreme, in either direction, especially not with Federation Weather stations. But Dani felt like she was frying on a hot griddle.

She jumped when her mother spoke her name behind her.

"Sorry, darling," Admiral Janeway said. "I didn't mean to scare you." She sidled up to her daughter and looked up at her and automatically placed the back of her hand to Dani's cheek. "Are you all right? You look like you have a fever."

Dani pulled away, glancing to see if Powers were revolted by the public maternal display. "I'm fine, Admiral," Dani said stiffly.

At the formality of her daughter, Admiral Janeway pulled back and became business-like also. "So what are we discussing?"

"Brunch," Powers said succinctly.

"Ah, wonderful topic," she said.

"What about Shay?" Dani asked.

Janeway squinted and glanced at the chronometer on the old padd she carried. "Patterson estimates five minutes. Then she'll have 10 more minutes for the stern lecture," she said, her eyes rolled up in calculation. "Five more minutes for absurd questions." She looked straight at her daughter, with a wry look. "We could be in the cafeteria in less than 30."

Dani snapped her eyes closed and groaned. "You had me until…_cafeteria_." She partially gagged the last word; a joke that she was absolutely sure Powers would go for. Instead the woman looked away and Dani colored again.

"All right," the Admiral said. "How about that bistro on…" Dani shook her head once. "You don't like that either?"

Dani didn't want to tell her that Tova worked there. No, she didn't want Powers to know about Tova. She really needed to go back to being a celibate.

Powers lifted a finger. Dani knew it was her way of asking the Admiral to delay a decision until she could dig up more information.

She tapped a few controls and pulled up the cafeteria menu.

In the bright light, Admiral Janeway could hardly read it and that backwards. "What's the menu?"

"Taspar omelets with Yamok sauce," Powers said. "For the vegetarians, Plomeek broth and Rippleberry fruit. And finally, the coffee—"

"Here it comes," Janeway purred.

"Raktijino—"

"Oh," Janeway said pleasantly surprised. "Klingon coffee is decent. It's got quite a kick—"

"Decaffeinated," Powers added mournfully.

"Defiled, you mean," Admiral Janeway hissed. "Thank you, Commander. That certainly settles it. We'll meet…" She met Dani's eyes. "Elsewhere. We can head to Baker Street after Shannon freshens up." She put a hand on Dani's forearm. "Want to meet at the East Transit Station?"

"In 45?"

The Admiral looked at Powers, who nodded. "I always have to check with my attaché," she said.

Dani saluted, earning a chuckle from the Admiral but a wink from the Commander. She turned and jogged to her room, anxious for the time to go by.

=/\=

Just as the four hopped onto the transit station heading east, Admiral Janeway received a communique from Starfleet Headquarters. The transit car was nearly empty, neat rows of gray were immaculate. Janeway made her way to the far end of the transit for some semblance of privacy, while Dani and Shannon sat in opposite rows. Dani put an arm on the seat in front of her, where Powers had been sitting with her mother.

"Cappie doesn't seem herself," she whispered to Powers, accidentally slipping into Janeway's old nickname.

The comment earned her uncharacteristically candid look of surprise from the Commander. "Why do you say that?"

"She sounds a little…I dunno…anxious like she has bad news."

When Powers didn't comment, Dani edged up on her seat and elbowed the senior officer. "She doesn't, does she? Have bad news I mean?"

Powers opened her mouth and then closed it. She scratched her temple with a single clawed finger. "You are placing me in quite a predicament, Cadet," she said.

Dani laid a hand on the shoulder, rubbing it a few times. It felt delicious. "I don't want to do that," she said, lifting her chin from her arm. "Just tell me if it's good news or bad."

Powers clucked her teeth. "Let me say that Admiral Janeway believes both are good."

"Both?" Dani said, sitting up straight again. "There are two bits of news?"

"You're incorrigible," Powers said with a shake of her head.

Dani sat back and watched the collar of Starfleet tunic ruffle the tips of her short hair. She wanted to run her hand through the woman's hair… She closed her eyes and licked her lips. She shouldn't have thought of hair because when she did, she thought of woman's pelvis with its triangular crown and well that just lead to other thoughts.

She shook her head, trying to calculate the last time she'd had any sex. _Two weeks was way too long,_ she thought. Dani heard her mother call for Commander Powers, but instead of getting a reprieve, Dani was front and center to the woman's slow saunter up the gangway. _Dayum_, she thought, looking at her through her eyelashes.

She felt someone slip in beside her. She was shouldered into the window. "Ow," Dani replied, rubbing the offended arm. "That hurt."

"I see you ogling Commander Powers," she said.

Dani's eyes got big as moons and she covered her sister's mouth with a palm. "Will you shut up!" she whispered.

Shannon bit her sister's hand, making her growl. Dani pulled back from the incisor pinch in a fraction of a nanosecond, shaking her hand as she did. "Just keep your opinions to yourself," she growled.

Dani rubbed the meaty part of her palm on her pants and examined the bite marks. When Shannon remained unusually silent, she looked up at her. "What?"

Shannon bit her lower lip, trying to hide the absurd amount of pride in her team.

Dani frowned. "Spit it out."

"What, what?!"

"I know you want to," Dani replied.

"Well, I can't lie and tell you that it didn't feel fabulous to outlast Dani Janeway," she said, holding out a hand to examine her pink polished nails. "That puts us ahead by two, by the way."

"Who's keeping score?"

"Me," she said. "Please stow your jealousy. It isn't attractive."

Dani rolled her eyes. "Just remember, Pita, it isn't over. We've got all year."

=/\=

The train came to a halt and the foursome hopped off near Baker Street. "Oh, I'm so ready for Baker Street Bistro," Shannon said.

Dani crossed her arms across her chest. "I thought we crossed that off the list."

The girls stared at each other until Shannon added: "I like Baker Street."

"Well, I do, too," Dani said smoothly. "But there's this new place, right across the street…I thought we could try it."

Admiral Janeway looked in the direction her eldest daughter was pointing and squinted. "What's that name? Blue Star Burn?"

Shannon narrowed her eyes at her sister. "Why don't you like Baker Street, all of a sudden?"

"All of a sudden? You make it sound like a _conspiracy_," she said, hooking her fingers to visually quote the last word.

"I heard Blue Star Burn was hard to get into," Shannon said, with a haughty lift of her dimpled chin.

Dani narrowed her eyes, making AJ inhale deeply. "Okay, you, too. What game are you playing now?"

"No game, AJ," Dani replied, nonchalantly. "It's all fine."

Shannon threw her head back and laughed. "I remember now," she said. "Dani met her latest girlfriend at Baker Street," her sister said with no small amount of glee.

AJ's face lit up. "Oh?"

"But I understood they got in a little tiff this morning," Shannon added with a lilt of laughter.

"She's not my girlfriend," Dani replied, tipping her head to give the commentary more to Commander Powers. "We're just _friends_."

"Good thing," Shannon said. "I heard _Tova_ is kinda like a white dwarf star."

"How so?" Admiral Janeway asked, interested in a subject that was usually off limits.

"Extremely hot, but not very bright," Shannon said with an uncharitable guffaw.

Admiral Janeway tried to look appalled but there was an inflection in her voice that gave away the amusement.

Dani thought about presenting that damned holo of Shannon and Cadet Tybelius Parmiller. His name alone would send Admiral Kathryn Janeway into orbit. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, she began to receive telemetry across her visual center.

This time the Messenger said: _Not yet, Dani._

She learned long ago that she didn't have to speak out loud in order to carry on a conversation with it.

Why the hell not?

_It's not the right time. _

What if she gets knocked up?

_If you follow my explicit instructions she won't. _

Dani found the Messenger's answer especially worrisome. Every cadet received monthly birth control injections. But the Messenger was implying something more was needed.

Then when?

_Just not now._

Dani sighed. "Your intel is bad, Cadet," she said with her own smirk. "Tova doesn't work on Mondays."

=/\=

By the time they made their way down Baker Street, the crowds had swelled the restaurant district. "Well, the new restaurant may be a pipe dream," Admiral Janeway said, as the foursome walked across the street.

The new restaurant, the Blue Star Burn, was a quaint brick storefront, with a foyer that was wall-to-wall people. "Let's just see the wait list," Dani said.

The hostess was a cute Ventaxian woman in a rather very tight and very short skirt rip off of a Starfleet uniform. "The wait is approximately forty minutes," she said.

"Forty?" The admiral checked her chronometer. "I've got meetings…" She glanced at her daughters. "What time are your orientations?"

"Thirteen hundred," Dani said, earning a look of surprise and mild rebuke from the Admiral.

"Thirteen-fifty," Shannon said, feeling another winning smile coming on.

"Your schedule isn't much better," AJ said, sapping the smirk with the five words that usually preceded a painful walk down memory lane. "When I was a cadet…"

"Kathryn Janeway?" It was a masculine voice that she used to hear every day, and one she hadn't heard in nearly eight.

The Admiral turned to find a spotted face looking at her. Neelix was wearing the latest So'na casual attire. Orange fur sprouted from the low collar of the coral-colored wrap shirt that cinched at his large waist. Brown pants covered his legs all the way to his curled toed shoes. "It's been a long time," he said, opening his arms.

Admiral Janeway's eyes had already misted and they shared a long embrace. "Oh, Neelix," she said. "What a wonderful surprise."

"Are you here alone?"

"Neelix, this is my adjutant, Commander Taliesin Powers."

He shook her hands enthusiastically. "Welcome, Taliesin," he said casually.

"And my girls—Dani and Shannon." She gestured behind him. "Cadets," she corrected.

He turned, surprised that his gaze was forced higher than he expected. Even Shannon was now taller than him, and her own mother by half a head. "You were just a baby," he said, brushing Shannon's offer of a hand away to engulf her in a strangling hug. "Well, a little older."

Neelix stepped back to take in Dani's full height. "My god," he said. "You must be as tall as Seven of Nine."

She used her thumb and finger to measure out a few centimeters. "Just a wee bit," she said.

"Well, give Uncle Neelix a hug, will you?"

It was an awkward hold, with Dani having to nearly bend over to accommodate the neck squeeze. Neelix parted and apologized to the patrons standing around them. "I'm sorry, folks," he said. "I just haven't seen my friends—and really, they're like family—in a very long time."

Just as the Admiral was going to speak, Neelix' face lit up. "You're here for brunch."

"Yes," she said.

"Come this way," he said, motioning.

They looked at each other curiously before following him, as he ushered them past the Ventaxian hostess and the armed guards with a wave. He led them to a small room off the kitchen, red gingham hung from the small windows that looked onto the brick siding of the next building. He unfastened the burgundy cordon, by tugging on the red velvet rope from its magnet hinge and gestured them in. "I usually reserve this for dinner, but, this is a special occasion."

After they arranged themselves around a long wooden table in the middle of the room, he pulled the wood chairs from their sconce under the wooden tables. He handed them fabric menus. "We're a little old fashioned here," he said. "But the food is exquisite. Order anything you like. It's on the house."

He shuffled to the door and over his shoulder added: "I'll be right back. There's someone here who may want to say hi."

Janeway removed a small case from her jacket and unfolded some reading lenses. She perched them on her nose and looked up briefly to see if the girls were watching her. And they were.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Shannon said.

"You look cute," Dani said.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," she said, blushing slightly. "What are you going to order, Powers?"

"Talaxian omelet sounds interesting," she said. "I don't believe I'm acquainted with any Talaxians."

"You've just met one," Dani said, sitting across from Powers. "Neelix is probably the only Talaxian in the Alpha Quadrant."

"Ah," she said, returning to study the menu. "He seems a decent chap."

When Dani kept staring at her, Powers looked up with an inquiring look.

Dani shook her head and looked at her own menu again.

A few minutes later, Neelix returned with Samantha Wildman in tow. She was wearing a sheath dress, of the same material as Neelix and her brown hair was pinned up on top of her head. Tendrils spilled down in beautiful cascades.

Her eyes watered immediately and she fell upon the trio, offering up tight embraces and showering each cheek with light kisses. Powers sat quietly, watching the reunion, until Samantha offered to hug her.

"Unnecessary," Powers said, offering a hand instead.

"I am so happy to see you all. It's been a while," she said. "And Naomi would have loved to have been here."

"Where is Naomi stationed?" Admiral Janeway.

"She's serving on the _Constitution_."

"Captain Paxson is a good leader," the Admiral said. "She's very experienced."

"Naomi likes Astrometrics a great deal."

"Hmm, I wonder where she got that interest?" the Admiral said, leaning forward playfully.

Samantha looked around. "Where is Seven?"

Samantha had always been sensitive and the look on the Admiral's face made her raise her hands. "I'll bet it's a top secret assignment," she said graciously. "Forget I asked."

Kathryn's gratitude was concealed in a stealthy squeeze of Samantha's hand. "We just saw Dukat this morning?" the Admiral asked.

"Oh, he's his own man, that one," Samantha said with a hint of mockery. She looked at the girls. "I'm sure the girls—pardon, I mean you cadets—know more than his mother!"

"He's the one to beat in Advanced Relativistic Mechanics," Shannon finally said.

Samantha smiled with pride. "I'm sure you Janeways give him a run," she said. She looked at Admiral Janeway and gave her a half hug. "I'm so glad you came by."

"Did you recognize the name of the restaurant?" Neelix asked.

Admiral Janeway looked down at the name of the restaurant on the menu. Her face lit up. "Oh, yes," she said. "That star—our last mission."

"We almost died!" Neelix said to Powers. "Picture it. A dying Class IV sun and we are marooned on a nearly lifeless moon—nearly lifeless but overrun with thousands of Borg drones, that is."

Samantha smiled sheepishly. "Darling, I think Omala is calling you in the kitchen."

Neelix stopped and perked his ear. "I'll be right back," he said.

Janeway mouthed a "thank you" to Samantha as she waved on departure.

=/\=

It was nearly eleven hundred hours when their brunch arrived. Kathryn had ordered the Luhvian quail with roasted steamed chadre'kab. She poised her fork over the quail, whose beak was tied with a green string. "My breakfast is staring at me," she whispered.

"How rude," Shannon giggled.

"How're the groatcakes, Commander?" Dani asked.

Powers had just uncorked the syrup of squill to pour over the Bajoran breakfast favorite. "I believe, Cadet, that I'm relieved I ordered simply." She carefully partitioned a piece of the groatcake and just before taking a bite, asked: "How is your breakfast?"

Dani looked down at the eggs Benedict. "I stuck with the tried and true," she said.

"We should be commended, Cadet," Powers said, accessing the other two plates. "I believe we will be the only two at this table leaving with full bellies."

Dani snorted a laugh as she witnessed Shannon take a small bite of the Jibalian seven-spice omelet before seizing the coffee cup. She took several gulps, emptying it. Then she emptied her water glass. "Four alarm," she croaked.

Admiral Janeway was offering a sympathetic look to her youngest child when Dani asked: "Cap—AJ? Do you want some of mine?"

The Admiral had already pushed her plate away. Instead she was focusing on the cup of coffee. "This coffee is just enough, Dani," she said. "But thank you."

They'd chitchatted for a little while longer before Admiral Janeway set her coffee mug down in that way that the girls knew signaled importance. "Thank you both for coming to my surprise breakfast—now brunch," she said with a small laugh. She placed a hand on Commander Powers arm. "Thank you, as well. Your support has always meant a great deal to me."

Powers patted her hand and smiled. "Thank you, Admiral. I feel the same."

"Hey, you paid, AJ," Dani said.

"Thank you, darling," the Admiral said sarcastically. "In any event, I do have some news."

Suddenly the room temperature dropped and the girls stopped even blinking. She looked at each of them in turn, her diplomatic training keeping the ball in the pit of her stomach down. "What is wrong, cadets?"

"You tell us, AJ," Shannon whispered.

"Wrong?" the Admiral said, glancing around. "Why, nothing is wrong, strictly speaking. In fact, I hope what I share is good news."

The two settled back down. "Oh, good," Shannon said.

Dani elbowed her sister. "Jumping to conclusions there, Cadet Pita."

"You did, too," she whispered.

"Zip it," the Admiral finally ordered with the full authority at her command. Instantly the two straightened and they looked at her like two adults should.

She nodded once and leaned over to Commander Powers, who said: "Admiral, I'm impressed."

"Don't be," she said, behind her hand. "It's never really worked until Starfleet Academy took their discipline well in hand."

"I have received word of your mother," she said.

The jocularity that had broken out went underground again and Janeway frowned. "Oh dear," she said. "I'm making a mess of this."

"You said you had good news," Dani reminded her needlessly.

"I do," she said. "Your mother is fine, girls."

Shannon's eyes misted. "We haven't heard from her in months," she said, her voice cracking near the end.

Janeway's face softened and she reached over and took Shannon's fingers in her own. "I'm sure it was mission-related communication silence," she lied.

Dani narrowed her eyes and searched her mother's face. She seemed to be choosing her words carefully, as if she were a diplomatic envoy negotiating elusive peace.

"But she's well and her mission has been successfully completed."

Shannon's brows became angry scrawls over her eyes. "Where is she then?"

"Fourth planet of the Altinak system," Janeway replied. "Among liberated Borg."

"Liberated Borg," Shannon said.

"When is she coming home?" Dani asked.

Janeway rolled her eyes around, and Dani took it she was diplomatically fudging. "I'm not sure, darling. But soon."

"The Orion Sector is squarely in the Beta Quadrant," Commander Powers chimed, earning a look of commendation from the Admiral.

Dani stared between them and finally sat back. "I hope she comes home soon," she said, throwing her napkin on her empty plate.

"I do, too," Shannon and Kathryn said simultaneously.

The foursome settled into an uncomfortable silence, all drinking coffee or juice. The waitress came to refill their drinks and offer desserts, but they declined. After the more minor small talk and after the dishes had been cleared, Dani placed her elbows on the table. "What else, AJ?"

Admiral Janeway inhaled again and smiled at her daughters. "As a matter of fact, Dani, there is something else," she said. "Truth be told, I'm a little anxious about telling you."

"Well, you can't be pregnant," Shannon said, earning a loud whoop from Dani.

Janeway's face hardened. "No, I'm afraid those days are long gone for me. Long gone," she said. "And good riddance."

Dani narrowed her eyes and she looked at Commander Powers. "Has Commander Powers received a ship of her own?"

Powers flinched with surprise. "Me?"

Janeway turned and glanced at her, a finger to her chin. "Now that you mention it, Cadet," she said. "You really are overdue, Taliesin."

"I'm waiting for the right assignment," she said.

When no more was offered, Janeway prompted. "That being…?"

"I would like a science vessel, but…" She shrugged. "Starfleet seems to be navigating away from its roots."

Janeway stared at her adjutant for along moment. "It does that," she stated.

Dani watched at Powers seemed to color slightly. Her porcelain skin almost seemed impossible to blush but there it was. She's lovely, Dani thought.

Powers did a double take on Dani and frowned. "Admiral," she said gently. "Perhaps you should speak of the other matter."

"Other matter?" she chuckled for a moment. "Yes, of course. Whatever would I do without your help, Tal?"

"I believe you'd hire someone else," she replied evenly.

Janeway gave her a playfully chiding look before looking at the girls. "I do have some news." She paused for emphasis. "I will be joining you at the Academy this year."

Both girls furrowed their brows but waited patiently for the ranking officer to finish.

"And that means…?" Dani asked.

"By that I mean that I will be _teaching_ a course there."

Both girls immediately fell out of military stance, cooing their approval. "What course, AJ?" Dani asked.

"Temporal Mechanics."

Dani's face froze. "Please tell me you are teaching the intro to TM and not—"

"I will be teaching Advanced Temp Mech."

Dani closed her eyes and shook her head once. "This isn't happening to me," she murmured.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm in your class, AJ, and I need it to graduate."

The Admiral gave a smirk. "Well, then you better stay on your toes. I wouldn't want you to have to _repeat_ the course."

AJ and Powers chuckled, while Shannon and Dani groaned. "That's awful, AJ," her youngest child intoned at her mother's pun.

Dani threw herself back on her chair. "Let's hope I don't have other complications."

"I'm not a complication, cadet," the Admiral said more mildly than she felt.

"Well, congratulations, Admiral," she said. "I look forward to it."


	3. Gulf

**Rip In Time  
By Isobel Rowan**

**Part 1: Starfleet Academy  
Chapter 3: Gulf**

Dani Janeway was immaculate in a clean cadet uniform, with its gray jumpsuit, its quilted yoke and the red undershirt. She walked with Cadet Pim Taranis to the middle row of the rising audience seats in McCoy Auditorium.

"I would think you'd want to sit front and center," Taranis whispered into her ear.

She glanced down and the first four rows were already a sea of gray. "Early risers beat me to it," she said. "Which I never expected for a 7 a.m. Temporal Mechanics class."

He snorted as he plopped down next to her. His knees dug into the descending seat in front of him and he adjusted himself. "Bootlickers," he said. "Every damn one of them."

She elbowed him hard. "And you thought I'd be there, too?"

He chuckled when Dani gave him a disgusted look as she slipped off her tunic and laid it neatly across the arm chair. He sized his superior officer up. "Is that a newly replicated uniform?"

Dani smoothed out the slacks. "Yes, it's clean."

"Wow, I didn't know you knew how to do that."

A lip curled at him in a soundless snarl. "I don't like wasting resources. That's all."

"Yeah or your trying to impress—"

Commander Taliesin Powers stepped into the auditorium at center stage and immediately the hundreds of cadets went from a dull drone to near pin silence.

"Admiral on deck!" she shouted. The cadets stood in unison as Admiral Kathryn Janeway entered the lecture pit, with an old-fashioned padd in her hand.

"As you were, cadets," she said. "That will be the first and only time we will observe strict protocols. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir!" they all replied.

Janeway nearly frowned. "And another thing," she said. "It's 'yes, Admiral.' I don't really care for that regulation either."

Soft laughter rippled through the completely packed audience. Janeway gestured to the ice blonde standing beside her. "By the way, this is my adjutant, Commander Taliesin Powers."

Dani tried hard to not even blink. Their oh-so-brief brunch yesterday just brought back the unquenchable thirst for her presence.

Commander Powers waved amiably, receiving a few waves, mostly from the men, in return. "She's not associated with Starfleet Academy, but is my colleague from Starfleet Command," she replied, smiling at the woman. "That means it would be useless to curry favor with her."

"But you can always try," Commander Powers added, earning another round of laughter.

"Yes, you certainly can. Thank you, Commander. I'll see you later."

She nodded curtly once, turned on her heels in a textbook execution of a regulation turn and walked out.

Janeway laid a palm on the edge of the wooden podium as she came to stand in front of it. "This is the Advanced Temporal Mechanics. There are quite a number of you signed up, but I had no idea it would be this crowded."

"Maybe some of us are having to repeat the course," someone added.

"We're caught in a time loop," another cadet joked.

Janeway laughed good-naturedly, as if she hadn't heard those jokes for fiftieth time. "I can't think of an existence more wretched than to be caught in a temporal loop in this class. In any case, let us begin."

=/\=

After class, Admiral Janeway was swarmed by a half dozen cadets with questions and comments. Dani stood up, catching her mother's quick glance up. She waved and mouthed "later." Her mother nodded and returned her attention to the cadets.

"Well, that wasn't too boring," Taranis said.

Dani chuckled. She liked Taranis just because he said what he meant and didn't care about the bullshit political score. It was refreshing because since she'd started Starfleet Academy, the mere mention of her surname brought out two types of people: the ass-kissers and the ass-kickers. The first group didn't really care who she was or what she was interested in, or even whether her views differed in any reasonable way to her mother's. Dani was a means to an end. The last type, the ass-kickers, was out to prove that just because she was a Janeway meant she couldn't get away with even the tiniest infraction.

"I'm sure my mother will be relieved to know," Dani said flatly.

Taranis froze and he slowly turned a flush face to look at her. "You won't tell her, will you?"

Dani shook her head and made no more commend of it, which, in itself, caused Pim Taranis to be alarmed. "You sick?" he asked. "You don't seem yourself—for instance, you didn't give me grief."

"Tova dumped me last night," she said glumly as they walked to the promenade, the open area between the buildings.

"Does that mean…?"

"She thinks I have the hots for someone else."

"Do you?"

Dani shrugged. "I hardly know her."

"Who is her?" he said, his eyes glazing over in thought.

Dani glanced quickly at her companion. "If you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll—"

"Commander Powers."

Dani stopped and looked at him, striking his shoulder with a fist. "You suck, did you know that?" she hissed.

He blew out some air, looked around and took a step closer. "You shouldn't really have the hots for our mother's TA."

"She's not a…" Dani cleared her throat and took a half step toward him, bringing them closer. "She's not a teaching assistant."

"I don't blame you, though," he said. "She looks good enough to—"

"Pim," Dani warned.

He nodded once. "Yeah. You know."

She closed her eyes and moaned. "Yeah, I do know."

"She's hot but totally out of your league."

Dani snapped her eyes open and narrowed them menacingly. "Thanks a lot, plasma for brains."

She turned in a snap and started marching to her next class. She could hear his loud stomps as he jostled through the crowd to catch up to her.

"What I mean, Cadet, is that she is…" He thought for a moment as they walked. "You can't date her."

"Why not?"

"Three reasons," he said. "She's a commander; she's a walking iceberg; and finally, she does not bend the light your way."

"Bend light my way?"

"Yeah," he said coyly. "You know. Like other girls."

"Is that how you describe lesbians in your world?"

"And male lesbians."

Dani couldn't help but laugh. "Gay," she said.

"Huh?"

"Men who are attracted to other men are gay; women are lesbians. At least on earth."

"Weird names."

"Evidently, they bend light on Zalda."

"Better than bending laughter."

"Do you bend light, Taranis?"

"Hell, no," he said. "Not that…Just no."

As Dani approached her next class, one that Taranis did not share, she slowed down. "Well, I think you're wrong about her being cold and straight."

Taranis nodded. "Your choice, but be careful."

"Will do, Cadet," she said.

=/\=

Admiral Janeway stepped into the townhome in Pacific Heights that she and Seven had purchased when they'd newly returned from the Delta Quadrant. It was quaint with the brick façade and a small porch overlooking a very sloped street. Once-blooming plants—she forgets what they were—were brown and rotting in the two hanging pots that Seven had hung from the porch ceiling. Two Risian chairs, covered in luxuriously soft Karemman polyfleece, sat collecting dust.

Since she'd started lecturing at the Academy about a month ago when the sessions started, she'd had less and less time to return home. She'd begun to sleep in her office.

She unlocked the door with a palm print and immediately her nose was assaulted with the odor of must and mildew. "Computer, lights," she ordered. After coming in from a pleasant walk after dark, the light nearly seared her eyes. "Computer, half lights."

She ordered the computer to increase the oxygen permeability of the window pains to nearly 85 percent. Immediately, the breeze freshened the small, two-bedroom house. She inhaled deeply.

Upstairs in her room, she laid the padd by the nightstand and checked the chronometer. Twenty-two hundred hours and there were no subspace messages. In fact there were no messages of any kind. Everyone who knew her also knew how to reach her.

She sighed and retired to the ensuite where she took a long, hot shower. When she emerged, Kathryn unscrewed a jar of The Prophets Sweet Kava Oil and Moisturizer and slathered it on her arm. As she worked in, she heard a chime at the comm station in her bedroom. "Incoming subspace message for Kathryn Janeway," the computer said.

"Who else would it be for?" Kathryn inquired.

"Restate the inquiry," the computer asked.

"Never mind," she said impatiently. "Put the message through to this station."

The screen became snowy, but after a few seconds, it cleared to reveal Seven of Nine. Janeway smiled with sweet relief. "Hello, my darling," she said with a purr. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Kathryn."

The word was uttered in such a flat, tedious voice that Kathryn almost didn't understand the very syllables. The warning bells sounded and in a split nanosecond, she noticed Seven's pasty complexion. She looked like she'd nearly just stepped off the cube, though she had not additional tubes protruding from swollen skin.

And Seven was once again bald. She'd shaven her head during their last mission on Voyager. It was more of a way to teach Kathryn a lesson than a fashion statement. This one seemed the latter.

"Are you all right, Seven?" Kathryn asked quietly.

Seven seemed to look at something off camera and then nodded. The nod itself was reminiscent of her early days on Voyager, when human mannerisms were incredibly foreign.

"I am fine, Kathryn."

Kathryn wanted to argue the point, but thought better of that tack. "I've missed you," she said.

"And I have missed you," she replied in a pedantic way.

_She sounds like an echo_, Kathryn realized.

"When are you coming home?"

Again, Seven seemed to glance off camera at something.

_Not something_, Kathryn thought. _Someone!_

"I have several more objectives to complete before I may return to Federation space."

Kathryn felt her own eyebrows wanted to crinkle, but her diplomatic instincts kicked in and she kept her face placid. Everything inside of her said Seven was lying. Her objectives, as far as Starfleet Command was concerned, were achieved.

"I know you can't talk about your objectives," she said, fishing for information.

"Correct," she said automatically. "This mission has been classified by Starfleet Command."

Kathryn looked down to hide her frown. Her objectives were her own now and not classified, especially if Commander Albigence Sinclair had divulged her exact location.

_What's more, she was inside Federation space, so what did it mean that claimed not to be?_

These thoughts and questions bombarded Kathryn's brain like photons on an optic nerve. But there was no illumination, no answer in sight.

_Easy, Katie,_ she told herself. _You do want her to call you back._ Kathryn smiled. _Yes, she did; otherwise how was she going to find her?_

"I understand," she said calmly. "Have you contacted the girls? They miss you almost as much as I do?" Kathryn let the genuine sense of affection for the Borg surface and express itself in a crooked smile.

But Seven seemed immune even to that weapon. "I have not. I did not want to interfere with their studies." The answer was spoken as if it been read to her and memorized.

This time Kathryn allowed some of her irritation to show. "Seven, they are worried about you. Don't you think that their apprehension could adversely affect their studies more so?"

Seven's eyes seemed to unfocus for a brief moment and she seemed to withdraw from the conversation, if not physically, then mentally.

"I had not considered that position," she said. "I shall rectify the oversight."

_Oversight?!_ Kathryn wanted to yell. Instead she covered her mouth briefly and considered an approach that could keep the contact regular. "Shall I send you some of your things?"

"Things?" Seven finally said with so much emotion that Kathryn nearly fell backward. It was contempt.

Kathryn focused on the Seven of Nine in her memory and in her heart. The Seven she adored, who was brilliant and sexy and absurdly playful. "Supplies… a change of clothes or even, oh, I don't know…strawberries."

Seven perked for a moment at the sound of her favorite fruit but she resumed her dismal expression. "That is unnecessary," she said. But almost as an afterthought, Seven added: "But I appreciate it."

_She appreciates it,_ Kathryn repeated the words in her head. _This hardly even sounds like the freshly freed drone so many years ago. Who is she? _Kathryn wondered. She noticed that Seven shifted her feet and Kathryn knew her time was almost up. "When can we talk again, darling?"

Seven opened her mouth and closed it before saying a word. Her gaze seemed to go inward again before replying. But she recovered quickly. "Next week," she said, before terminating the communication feed on her end.

Kathryn continued to stare at the blank screen. "Good night, my darling," she replied.

Then she laid down and covered herself with blankets and closed her eyes. Tears fell silently as she hugged Seven's pillow tightly to her breast.

=/\=

Cadet Dani Janeway straightened her freshly recycled uniform and stepped into her mother's suite at Starfleet Commander. "Admiral K. Janeway" was etched in fine detail on the transparent steel wall. Commander Powers was seated at a communication station to one side by the large windows.

Dani smiled at her as she was obviously communicating with someone. On approach, Dani could see the three-dimension image projection of Commander Sinclair. "She is quite booked," Powers said to Sinclair.

"You can toy with me and put me off, but I can assure you that the news I have will be most interesting to the Admiral."

"A fact I have not disputed, Commander," Powers said diplomatically. "I am constrained by her very tight schedule."

Dani smiled appreciatively at Powers' European Sector accent in the pronunciation of "shed-yule."

But her mother's adjutant was focused on Sinclair and heedless of Dani's admiring look.

"I am coming by at lunch time," he snarled.

"She has a meeting, Commander."

"I'm still coming by." With that, he ended the comm feed.

Commander Powers lifted her head and looked up at Dani.

Dani lost the luster of her own expression when Powers offered her a painted smile. "Sorry for the interruption," Dani said tentatively.

Powers sat back and breathed out deeply. "You're fine," she said. "How can I help you, Cadet?"

Dani seemed lose a little of her confidence. "Well, first off," she said with a patented crooked grin. "Hi."

Commander Powers stared up at her for a moment. She said nothing for so long, Dani got this sick feeling that she couldn't remember who she was, though they'd met a million times. Before she could respond to the awkward moment, Commander Powers seemed to find herself.

"Cadet Janeway," she finally said. "I was just wondering if the Admiral was expecting you."

Dani didn't flinch at the lack of a simple greeting. Everyone thought Commander Powers was cold. But somehow, Dani believed there was more there. She knew it deep in her soul. She just didn't know how.

Dani looked at her mother's closed office door. "Is she here?"

"No," she said. "She isn't, that's why I asked."

"Well, it's a surprise."

"Her schedule is impossibly complicated," Commander Powers said. "Between her duties here at HQ and her lectures at the Academy, it's a wonder she doesn't clone herself."

Dani smiled, hoisting a thigh up on the corner of the woman's desk. She saw Commander Powers look at the move, but her face was impassive. Then she looked up again. "Would you like to leave a message?"

Dani narrowed her eyes and licked her lips. "What I would really, really like is to take her assistant to lunch."

Powers tipped her head to one side. "Why?"

It was the woman's frankness that she knew her mother appreciated. But damn she was making this harder than necessary.

"Because you take good care of my mother…." Janeway noticed the comment did not even register on the impervious Commander. "Or how about, it's Happy Adjutant Day somewhere in the Federation…." Still the woman kept her gaze schooled to professional icy. "The reality is, Taliesin, I think you are very cute and I was hoping to get to know you better."

Commander Powers sat back, an elbow on the armrest and fingertips to her prominent chin. "I don't think that is appropriate, Cadet."

"Why?"

"Your mother is my commanding officer for one."

Dani felt a stab to her heart, but refused to release the woman's gaze. "It won't always be that way."

As if she hadn't heard Dani, Powers continued. "For another you are merely a cadet."

"Merely" kind of hurt, but Dani understood that. "This is my last year at—"

"And finally, you are far too young."

Commander Powers' expression turned to dismay when Dani smiled widely. "I just turned you down, Cadet."

"Well, sure, but the good news is—you didn't turn me down because you aren't into women."

The Commander flushed. She bit down hard on her molars, sending ripples down her cheek. "I gave you three very valid reasons that your romantic interest in me is pointless."

Dani smirked again, earning an irritated glare from the Commander.

"Is there something about this…_rejection_ you don't understand?"

"No, I understand it perfectly, Taliesin—"

"Commander Powers to you, Cadet," she said sharply.

Dani tipped her chin in acquiescence. "Still, Commander Powers, you never said you weren't attracted to _me_."

Commander Powers bolted upright. "That's quite enough, cadet."

"Does that mean you'll go out with me?"

"No!"

Just then Admiral Janeway with another flag officer stepped off the turbolift directly in front of her office. The loud declaration brought her expression toward her adjutant, who offered an apologetic look. Admiral Janeway excused herself from her colleague and entered the suite.

"Is everything all right?" she asked, looking between the two women.

Dani hopped down from the desk and saluted her mother. "Admiral," she said. "You look ravishing today."

"At ease, Cadet," she whispered, as she studied her daughter for a moment before looking over at Powers.

Dani took her mother's arm, folding her hand into it. "Commander Powers was guarding your time like the consummate professional and guardian. I just came by to see if you were available for a quick bite to eat."

Janeway looked over at Powers, who finally nodded. She punched a few keys and brought up the Admiral's schedule in all its three dimensional glory. "You have an appointment at twelve fifty, Admiral," she said, lifting her eyes to her boss. "But I'm sure I can rearrange it until one hundred."

Janeway looked at Dani. "Well, it isn't often that my firstborn wants to spend any time with me—"

"Playing the martyred mother card, are we?" Dani asked with a bit of humor.

Janeway laughed, leading her daughter to her office. "Let me get my things, darling."

Dani winked at Commander Powers. "Are you free next week?" she whispered.

Powers gave her an admonishing look and shook her head. But Dani got the impression the woman wanted to smile—until Commander Albigence Sinclair marched in. "Where is she?" he snarled. "I know she's here."

Dani came to attention, but Sinclair ignored her.

Powers was about to speak when the Admiral emerged. The smile dissolved from her face the instant it met the vinegar of Albigence Sinclair. "Admiral," he said, tramping toward her. "I have news that I have been trying to relay with no assistance whatsoever of the Wall that is your assistant."

He half turned to snarl at Powers, while Admiral Janeway repeated the phrase "the Wall" silently to her adjutant.

When he turned back he stretched an arm toward her office. "Please, Admiral Janeway. Indulge me."

He walked past her. "All right," she said. "I'll be just a minute longer, Cadet."

Their discussion behind Admiral Janeway's sound-proofed office was not even a muffle. "What the hell was that all about?" Dani asked.

Powers sighed, and placed her hands on her hips. _Her very well proportioned hips_, Dani thought. "I'm not really sure," she said in a quiet voice. "But it worries me. Commander Sinclair is certainly not an ally."

A few moments later, Commander Sinclair walked by Powers' desk. "I think she's going to need coffee," he said, tapping his middle finger twice on the desktop before he left.

Powers narrowed her eyes and Dani could have sworn she heard the word "bloody toad," but when she inquired. Powers demurred. "I said nothing of the kind," she said, walking toward her boss' office.

A wan Janeway emerged and gave an apologetic smile to Dani. "Darling," she said. "I'm going to have to cancel."

Dani studied her mother for a moment. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm fine. How about we reschedule?" She turned to Powers. "Can you reschedule Dani to another day?"

"Of course," she said. "I'll even give Cadet Janeway forty-five whole minutes."

Dani loved that Powers was trying to lighten the mood, because she could see her mother was upset. But Starfleet Headquarters politics was usually a forbidden topic that she would never indulge with either she or Shannon.

On impulse, Dani stepped closer and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek. "I'll call you later," she said. "Try not to sleep here tonight."

Kathryn nodded. "I will," she said.

When Dani gave her a curiously maternal expression of admonishment, Janeway actually chuckled. "I mean I will try not to," she said.

Dani looked at Commander Powers. She wanted to call the woman later, but knew that would she would be hung out to dry if she tried. Instead she nodded once. "Commander," she said and turned on her heels and left.

=/\=

As Admiral Janeway returned to her office, she stopped short. "Commander, please cancel the rest of my meetings today."

"Admiral," Powers said, following her into Janeway's inner sanctum.

The Admiral's office had once been spacious but was now filled with mementos from her travels. By the large window across from her desk, stood a three foot high replica of the USS Voyager. Beside it was a small table with old world globe. A picture of Vitruvius Man was framed behind her desk.

Janeway was hugging her middle as she stood gazing out of The Presidio. "I wasn't quite expecting the news I received," she whispered.

"Is everyone okay? Your mother? Seven?"

"Oh, everyone's healthy enough," she said. "I spoke to Seven last night."

"Did you, Admiral? That must have been a relief."

"It was," she said. "Until I find out today that Commodore Seven of Nine resigned her commission in Starfleet."

"She did not tell you, I gather."

"No," Janeway whispered. "And it hurts."


	4. Anchors

**A/N: Thanks to all the reviews I've gotten. They are fuel to the engine of writing. Some seem to be new to the series so I would recommend you read it from the beginning, starting with Time Enough. **

**Rip In Time  
By Isobel Rowan**

**Part 1: Starfleet Academy  
Chapter 4: Anchors**

Admiral Janeway walked into the auditorium, throwing her padd on the podium. She turned to unzip her tunic, throwing it over chair nearby. "Let's talk about the Temporal Prime Directive today." She eyed them all.

"Like the Prime Directive, the Temporal Prime Directive is one of the bedrock principles on which Starfleet operates. Without these twin directives, all other directives are meaningless," she said.

Admiral Janeway paused, allowing the usual debaters to have their opportunity. When none spoke, she continued.

"It's really two sides of the same coin," she said. "The first, General Order 1, involves the non-interference with sub-warp species; and the second involves non-interference with ourselves."

Dani Janeway was seated up in the rafter seats next to Pim Taranis. She listened as her mother discussed the rationale and examples of violations of the timeline.

"If you've read the class readings, then you know the earliest known violation of the Temporal Prime Directive occurred in the year 1930."

Some cadets nodded their heads and others looked around, clearly puzzled. Dani was expressionless. "A Starfleet officer, under the influence of a drug, changed history by saving one person's life." Admiral Janeway held up a single clawed finger. "It may seem benevolent and compassionate, but the act of saving the pacifist Edith Keeler resulted in the wiping of the United Federation of Planets and by extension, Starfleet itself. Then-Captain James Kirk was forced to return to that timeframe and correct the timeline."

"Did he kill her?" a cadet seated near Dani asked.

"Someone didn't read their assignment," another cadet, near the front, said.

Janeway gave a crooked smile to the nearby cadet. "As a matter of fact, Captain Kirk did not kill Edith Keeler, strictly speaking," she said. "According to unclassified logs and incident reports, Kirk prevented the ship's doctor from saving the woman during an encounter with a mob."

"It is usually the smallest details that will alter history. But time is a fickle lady and I can assure you—though I can provide you no specific mission details—that manipulation is very dangerous."

Dani sat up and raised her hand.

"Cadet Janeway," the Admiral said and lifted a finger to indicate her daughter. Amusement laced her voice. It wasn't often that her daughter participated directly in the conversation, but it wasn't for a lack of attention.

"I think you can change key points of time without polluting the entire subsequent sequence of events."

Janeway scratched over her eyebrow, dipping her head slightly to hide her smile. "Well, _cadet_, you must know more than the great scientific minds in the Federation."

The comment evoked some laughter, and only served to inflame Dani. She sat up straight and the Admiral could tell from the set of her strong jaw that she wasn't going to let this go and her next words were definitely a salvo.

"There's no accounting for poor perspective, Admiral."

Janeway eyed her daughter and crossed her arms. "Please do, enlighten us, Cadet."

"The first problem is one of semantics." The comment raised a dubious eyebrow of her mother's. "Timeline by its very name denotes a linear configuration."

"Are you saying time is circular?"

"In a vague sense, Admiral. But it's more than mere mathematics or Euclidian geometry."

"So now you're challenging Einstein and Ketteract too?" Another ripple of laughter made Dani glare around her, before she returned to face her mother.

"It's not my job to challenge, Admiral. My theory is pretty basic. It's the Occam's Razor of Temporal Mechanics."

"Oh, do go on." The Admiral planted an elbow on the faux wooden podium and propped her head with a thumb and finger.

"Time is circular in the sense of tangent vectors more like calculus equations rather than linear equations."

Janeway lifted a hand up, rubbing her fingertips together as she began to pace on the stage. "So you're telling me special relativity is inaccurate?"

Dani heard the skepticism. "No, I'm not. I said it is _incomplete_."

"Ah, Underhill was just a little _off_."

"I didn't say that," she replied. Dani punched some keys on her own wrist padd and it projected a three-dimensional display at its maximum arc of about two meters. She began to draw in reds and blues in mid-air. "This is what I meant. Each tangent making up the circle is a decision. You can alter the circle, but it remains on the tangential plane and it continues to progress."

Janeway's face became serious. "What is a _tangential _plane?"

"It's the space where time touches the dimensions of matter. So one instant in time may be altered without crashing down the matrix of the either the plane or the wheel. This was in my thesis, Admiral."

Janeway flushed. "I read your dissertation, Cadet." She lifted her padd and waved it around by her head. "I found it lacking in several key areas."

Dani touched a key and the three dimension display collapsed. "Like what?"

"There is no context to known research."

"Because my ideas are new."

"Well, that may be, Cadet, but even _your_ theories must be tested." The comment brought a few isolated chuckles, but Janeway ignored them. "Which brings me to my second criticism. You have provided no valid methodology for evaluating your ideas. There are no case studies, hardly any footnotes of any kind."

She stopped and looked at Dani intently. "Would you really like me to continue to outline its deficiencies, Cadet?"

Dani sat back, slipping down in her chair. "No," she said. "Sir."

"Please see me in my office after class, Cadet."

A soft murmur rippled through the class. Dani pursed her lips, nodded once in acknowledgement.

=/\=

Dani took the long way to her mother's office at Starfleet Command. Commander Powers was at her desk, entering data into a padd when she looked up. When she saw Dani, she stopped; her hand was poised in mid-air. "Hello, Cadet," she said.

"Hi," Dani said quietly.

Powers dropped the wrist padd, looking up at the auburn-haired beauty. "All right?"

Dani didn't even have the energy to sit on the woman's desk. Sure it annoyed the good Commander, but it always gave her a thrill when Powers was forced to check her out. Even that very thought didn't perk her up.

Dani shrugged. "I've been better."

"Where's the cheeky cadet, I wonder."

"I don't know," Dani said. "I'll let you know after my ass chewing."

Janeway zipped out of her office and stopped short. "Cadet Janeway," she said by way of greeting.

"Admiral," Dani replied, coming to attention.

Janeway slowly turned to look at Powers. "Were you going to announce her?"

"Yes, Admiral," Powers said. "She just stepped in."

Janeway nodded curtly, extending her hand to her office. "After you, Cadet."

=/\=

The Admiral stepped around her desk and slowly turned to find Dani still at full attention, exactly where she left her.

"What in the hell do you think you were doing in my class today?"

Dani looked straight, at some abstract point. "I thought I was participating as any student would, Admiral."

"No student would have handed in a half-assed thesis like that." The Admiral threw a hand flippantly at her office console.

Dani's eyes flashed pain, but she kept herself still.

"Well? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry if you found my ideas pedantic and untested."

"That isn't the point and you know it."

"Then I'm afraid I don't understand the point, Admiral."

"You were challenging me in class. I'm supposed to be the expert in Temporal Mechanics."

Dani nodded. "And not some time-traveling upstart of a cadet. Like I said, AJ, I'm sorry. Maybe I forgot I wasn't a regular cadet."

Janeway softened her expression. "I thought we had been doing so well," she said, looking down at the top of her desk and shaking her head. "Especially after you'd emerged from puberty."

Dani shrugged, but she knew it was because she just kept her mouth shut. "This isn't about any of that, AJ," she replied. "This is about the fact that I do know more about temporal mechanics than your average cadet and you can't give me credit for any of it."

"What credit are you talking about?"

"My entire life. Have you ever wondered why I tried so hard to push the envelope?"

"You're a Janeway."

"It was more than that," she whispered. "My entire life has been constrained by the messages I receive. I pushed the envelope because I wanted to break out of the mold of that stupid Messenger."

"You obeyed often enough."

"It's because I wanted to. I thought it would be fun to disrupt artificial gravity on the holodeck."

"You weren't constrained by the messages. You were constrained by your own interests."

"Don't you see? No matter how hard I tried, there were certain events that I could not alter. Those are the anchors."

"The anchors?"

"Yes, the anchors onto which time rolls. The terrain around the anchors can be altered, but the anchors themselves are moments in time that are permanently fixed."

"How do you know what is an anchor and what isn't?"

Dani shrugged. "I haven't worked that out yet."

Mother and daughter stared at each other for a moment, before Admiral Janeway broke the silence. "All right, look, I read your paper. If it's true it's quite brilliant—"

"But?"

"But you still have no supporting documentation—"

"My whole life is the supporting documentation. You know that!"

"What I know and what I can count on academically are not the same, dear heart."

"So what does that mean for my report?"

"It means you will have to redo your thesis or accept a failing grade."

Dani ran a hand through her hair. "Damn."

=/\=

Dani meandered out to the main room of her mother's office suite and was bitterly disappointed to see an empty console station. She walked over and looked around the Commander's desk, picking up a small bauble of blue viscous fluid suspended inside lighter transparent fluid. She shook it around and watched it for a moment before replacing it.

She inhaled deeply and could detect the fragrance of Taliesin Powers as if the woman were standing beside her. It was a light, floral scent that was at once woodsy, too.

Her eyes snapped open when she heard her mother's door slip open so Dani quickly exited to the roof of Starfleet Headquarters. It was covered in rock with a breath-taking view of The Presidio, the Golden Gate bridge and the Pacific Ocean beyond.

She fastened the suspensor pads to her feet, activating them with a verbal command. Slowly, she ascended to hover about a half a meter off the roof. The she adjusted another set of pads on the palms of her hands, stooping to adjust the polarity to propel herself with a flex of her hand.

She sailed across the rooftop careful to find the direction with the least number of people, particularly security personnel. Buildering, as it was called, was illegal on Presidio grounds. But Dani Janeway never let the rules stop her.

Instead she built up enough speed and launched herself into the air. She did not have enough lift to remain high for every long. Instead she glided across from one building to another, using propulsion against other buildings to stay airborne.

Outside of the transporters, buildering was the fastest mode of travel when one was late to a class at 700, as long as you did not get caught.

Just as she neared Nimitz Hall, her own dorm, green text began to teletype across her visual center ordering her to veer decidedly left. Its orders, which she followed out of curiosity, finally placed her in Cavitt Hall, her sister's dorm.

She came to a gliding halt on the roof and ducked down, careful to make sure no one was barreling up to the building to apprehend her. "Now what on earth am I doing here?" she asked aloud.

_Go knock on the entrance to dorm 512b._

"That's Shannon's room."

_Do it._

After her disagreement with AJ, Dani was game. It was a nice diversion where she wasn't in charge, where no one was looking for her solve a problem or find the correct answer.

She pressed the door alert and waited. Inside, she had heard giggling followed closely by a growl. Only when her sister opened the door and Dani saw the disarray of her hair, the backward undershirt and the unzipped pants held up by a hand did Dani put it all together.

"You're screwing," she said.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Before she could answer, Tybelius Parmiller came to the door. He was topless, revealing a stylized, yellow sun with a black center square on his forearm. At his right temple was an image of a gibbous moon. His brown eyes froze the instant they met her incendiary blues.

Dani rammed into the room, shoving the man back. "What is he doing here?" Dani barked.

"None of your damn business that's what! Now get the hell out of my dorm!"

Tybelius Parmiller had retreated to the back of the room, a sarcastic smirk on his face.

Dani was panting as she narrowed her eyes on him. "No, not until he does."

"You don't get a say, sis," he sneered.

Dani muttered a smattering of the worst invectives she could think of in at least three languages as she unzipped her thigh pocket to retrieve the holos The Messenger had ordered her to take from his room that day a few weeks ago.

Though it was inactive, she twisted it in the air. "This says I do, asshole."

"What is it?" Shannon asked.

Ty walked casually forward. "It's what she stole from my room," he said.

Shannon's face darkened. She smacked her sister's arm. "Why do you have to be such a—"

Just as Ty neared Dani, he lunged for the holos.

Dani evaded him with a simple step back and managed to shove the heel of her hand into his cheek. "If you want it, come and take it," she said.

Dani dashed from the dorm room, but heard Shannon and her boyfriend not far behind her. All of them were running while trying to slip into the micro suspensors. She was already prepared from her earlier flight and so she sailed quickly off the Cavitt Hall roof, becoming airborne in seconds.

She could hear Ty Parmiller barking orders to his sister that only served to slow them down. She gained several meters on them, just as she turned a sharp corner around the Medical Facility. There in the Presidio Gardens, Dani spotted a certain ice blonde Commander and so she pointed her feet in that direction.

She landed with a thud and rolled to a full stop with the suspensors on her shoes. She crawled beside a bush while the curious Commander Powers, floral teacup poised to her mouth, watched with stunned marvel.

"Where can I hide?"

"Is the Admiral still a bit steamed then?" Powers asked with a smirk.

"Not her, my sister."

"Ah, that Janeway," she said casually. She arched a brow. "Well, then, you better hit the deck, Cadet."

Dani fell flat on her stomach and rolled toward Powers. The Commander toed her bum, making Dani roll away. "The other way, Cadet!" she whispered.

Dani rolled under a nearby red orchid thicket, scratching her cheek and temple. But she could see Powers with one eye just as Shannon rolled up.

"Commander Powers," her sister said formally.

"Good afternoon, Cadet Janeway. How are you?"

"Good, but I'm looking for my sister."

Powers looked around, in the opposite direction of the shrub. "Did she come this way?"

Shannon put her hands on her hips and looked about, squinting by a water fountain and then up at the tops of some of the buildings. "Well, I thought I saw her."

"Shall I tell her to call you?"

"Yes, please," she said and then began to skid away.

"It's against policy to utilize those micro-suspensors," Powers pointed at the gray devices strapped to Shannon's shoes.

Shannon frowned. "You won't tell, will you?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," she said.

Shannon looked relieved and waved. "Aww, thanks, Commander." Then she zoomed away.

Powers took another bite of her sandwich and made a noise of disapproval when Dani tried to extricate herself. After a moment longer, and only after Powers looked back and forth between the garden, did she finally look down at the hidden cadet.

Powers looked down at Dani and gave a small, proper smile. "I'm supposed to tell you to message your sister," she said.

Dani rolled out and brushed at the dirt on her arms. "You totally lied! Does my mom know you can do that?"

"I most certainly did not lie, Cadet and I'm offended that you would even suggest such a thing especially after I saved your arse."

"You told her you didn't see me."

"You really must retake your espionage course, Cadet. At no time did I deny seeing you. What's more, I passed along her message as I indicated and I agreed not to report her use of illicit technology," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, it was a win-win scenario."

Dani stared at Powers for a long moment. The way the light was hitting her eyes, they almost looked like a matching pair of light blue. "You know, you're pretty devious."

"Is that the thanks I get for assisting you? I shall remember that the next time you are in dire straits with your relatives, which appears to be quite often, if I may add."

Dani watched her eat for a moment. "You, ah, you got another sandwich there?"

Powers frowned, but dug into a stasis pack to retrieve something that she looked at carefully. "It's an egg salad sandwich," she said. "If you like it, I'd be delighted to share."

When Dani reached for it, Powers pulled it back playfully. "But I still am a bit peeved."

"Do we need a grand bargain, Commander?"

"Grand bargain? Don't be ridiculous," she said. "I'd settle for an _ordinary_ bargain."

Dani crossed her arms. "I'm listening?"

"I'll give you my delicious egg salad sandwich and the pleasure of my company for…" Powers checked her chronometer. "For 30 minutes—"

"If…." Dani prompted.

"If you and your squad agree to help me move some things."

"Like move a planetary body type things or move various kitchen appliances?"

"The latter," she said. "A week from tomorrow."

Dani put out her hand. "It's a deal," she said. _Even if I didn't get the egg salad sandwich_, she thought as she took it.

The Commander scooted aside and only then did Dani notice the teacup with pretty pink flowers around its outside. Powers leaned back to retrieve something behind her, but the move revealed the curve of her ample breast. Dani's eye followed the line from shoulder to mid-section and it was a fine line of delectable circumference, too.

"It so happens that I have come prepared," she said, presenting another teacup.

Dani sat down and put the teacup and plate down beside her while Commander Powers poured. "I do not use _replicated_ tea as it bruises the flavor." She hissed the key word as if it were the most vile swear word she'd ever heard. "Which means, you may choose your flavor." She held up a small basket filled with little bags of tea, each covered in a particular brand. "There's the old standby Earl Grey, Gavaline, Andonian and finally Belongo of Piccadilly, which I seem to have quite a lot of."

"Hmm, I'll take Belongo."

She picked up the packet and studied Dani's expression. "This is Ferengi tea," she said.

"Oh, I picked it because it had a ring."

"You'll have a ring all right," she said mysteriously. "There's a reason I have far too many."

Dani crinkled her nose and held out her palm. "I'm a big girl," she whispered. She ripped the lime green bag. The tang of tea and orange wafted up. "Smells good."

She steeped it and the water clouded to a dark orange.

"Sugar?" Powers asked.

Dani looked up and smiled. "Yes." But she knew they weren't talking about the same thing. She was thinking of her lips to Commander Powers', the sweetest sugar of all.

"Do you like your sandwich?"

Dani took a delicate bite. It was small by her standards but Dani knew she could always get more grub later at the Mess. "It's good. Get it at a shop?"

"Perish the thought," she said dramatically. "I prepared it myself."

"I'm impressed," she said, looking again at the contents held between two slices of dark rye bread.

"How's the tea?"

Dani closed her eyes, blew on the tea and sipped it. "Hmm, it's…" She took another sip and made an involuntary shrug of her shoulder and then a full head shake. When she'd opened her eyes, she'd drained it. "I like it."

Taliesin Powers actually laughed and Dani didn't think there was anything more melodious. She even enjoyed seeing the woman's corded vein that traversed the slender column of her neck and wondered what it would feel like under her tongue.

"You're quite mad."

Dani thought she could get lost with the twinkle in her eye. "Quite," Dani said, affecting an accent nearly identical to the one given.

It made Powers chuckle just a little longer.

"Can I have some more?" Dani asked, hoping the woman would have to lean back again to reveal her curves.

But she was disappointed when the basket was foisted from the bench, along with the nearly empty teapot. "I didn't think I'd like it," she said. "Since there was so many extra tea bags left."

"It means we shall have to have tea together more often."

Over the lid of the teacup she smiled at Powers, who was watching her intently. "Brilliant idea," Dani said, rolling her "r" in a good-natured imitation. "Just splendid."

Commander Powers' eyes crinkled in amusement and Dani wished that this moment could last forever, until the pair fell into what Dani thought was an awkward silence. But Commander Powers seemed unperturbed by it. Her quiet enjoyment of lunch as she watched Starfleet officers and cadets stroll by helped Dani to relax and before long, she was watching the people pass by, as well.

"I enjoy this spot," the Commander said quietly. "It's the perfect observation deck."

"Me, too," she said casually. When she heard the lameness of her own reply, Dani cringed. _I sound like a blooming idiot_, she thought crossly. She was relieved The Messenger kept quiet.

=/\=

Earlier, Admiral Janeway watched her first-born leave her office. She was still a little worked up from the confrontation in class. But Dani had seemed to take the disagreement with a good dose of professionalism and she wondered belatedly if she were finally maturing.

Suddenly and without an announcement, a single Ferengi entered her office, ordering the computer to lock the door behind him. He was shorter than she, with a non-descript tan shirt and brown jacket and pants. A small covering wrapped the lower half of the back of his head and he smiled with a mouthful of sharp teeth. "Admiral Janeway," he said, bowing his head once.

Janeway looked toward her console, wondering whether she could summon security.

"I won't take up too much of your time, Admiral Janeway," he said, shifting between his feet and rubbing his hands.

He seemed innocuous enough. What the hell. "How can I help you, Mister…?"

"Gral," he said. "And I have a proposition for you."

The Admiral sat down. "I'm listening, Mr. Gral, but I doubt there are any proposals that Starfleet Headquarters would entertain."

The Ferengi's face darkened a moment and he waited.

Janeway lifted her brows, waiting for him to continue.

"You mean would entertain from a Ferengi."

Janeway looked around. "No, I never said that," she replied. "What I meant was that Starfleet headquarters has a procurement department to whom you may submit your bids."

"Bids," he said derisively. "Rules of Acquisition No. 19 clearly states: 'A bidding war does not determine who is right, only who bribes better.'"

Janeway crinkled her brows somewhat. "I'm sorry, Mr. Gral, I think someone in procurement would be a better fit to help you today."

He stomped his foot. "I'm not here for a contract, Admiral! I'm here to make a deal. With you."

She primmed the line of her mouth, laying the palms of her hands on the table in practiced patience. "Well, spit it out."

"I am representing a very respected and wealthy client—but I repeat myself—" Gral chuckled at his own joke, but Kathryn felt more alarm at his demeanor.

"Go on," she said, a touch of impatience showing.

"This client has opened an innovative firm called Omega Engineering Exchange. Have you heard of—?"

"No," she said tersely.

"The business model will be quite new," he said. "And lucrative. They are looking at developing biological implants."

She firmed her chin and hid her eye roll with a movement to stand. "I believe that's been done and is being done, by a hundred other firms."

"Not like this," he said, completely indifferent to her proximity or her efforts to walk him to the exit. "These implants would be implemented with similar protocols used by the Borg."

Janeway stopped and looked at him. "The Borg don't use protocols," she said. "They assimilate."

"Assimilate isn't necessarily negative," he said. "And we'd like to offer the job of CEO to Seven of Nine."

"Well, I hate to disappoint you, Mr. Gral, but Seven is currently in an away mission off-planet and she is completely unavailable for this venture. But thank you, though."

They were a half meter from the exit of her office.

"You must bring her here," he said. "Now."

Janeway allowed her annoyance to tinge the question. "Why would I do that?"

"Because, Admiral, we are _very_ persuasive."

A small sound of mockery caught in her throat. "I'm sure you are in other circumstances, Mr. Gral, but not today. Goodbye."

She executed a sharp turn on her heels to walk back to her desk.

"But she must! We need her."

"I'm of the opinion that my wife can do whatever the hell she wants and right at this moment, she doesn't want anything to do with dirty money."

Mr. Gral took exception and his tone became strident. "You should not blaspheme, Admiral. It isn't attractive."

She stood beside her chair, a hand casually draped over the back and she smirked. "You shouldn't threaten a Starfleet admiral. Isn't there a rule of acquisition about not biting that hand that feeds you?"

Mr. Gral's amiability completed melted away and his eyes glittered with hatred. "It appears that more softening up is required," he said.

"More? Have you done any?"

He tipped his head. "Seven of Nine has resigned her commission, has she not?"

The Admiral's face darkened. "How did you know about that?"

Mr. Gral shrugged. "I will return next week with an amended offer. Good day, Admiral Janeway."

He dematerialized right in front of her, just as she summoned security.


	5. Conspiracy

**Rip In Time  
By Isobel Rowan**

**Part 1: Starfleet Academy  
Chapter 5: Conspiracy**

The next week, Dani had risen early, hoping to catch Powers alone for a few minutes before the rest of her squad arrived. She threw on a light gray jumpsuit trimmed in white and emblazoned with the Starfleet Academy patch at the right sleeve. Dani sprinted to the Presidio's East Transit to get a train to the Commander Powers' house near Telegraph Hill.

Dani always enjoyed the sloping roads with the tidy row of colorful houses perched at odd angles. The address that Powers gave her was of a two-story house with a red roof and yellow clapboards. The small porch was festooned with brightly colored flowers in the yellow and red hues. As she walked to the door, her hand skimmed the happy red petals nearby.

Commander Powers opened the door and her look of surprise was met by one of Dani's. "I came early to see if you needed help getting boxes ready," she said, giving the Commander's dress uniform a full inspection. "But didn't expect this."

Powers seemed to surreptitiously wipe a tear before she spoke. "Well, I certainly wasn't expecting you this early either, Cadet."

Dani's head tipped to one side as she studied the lovely face and the marvelous mismatched eyes. "Are you all right, Commander?"

Powers gestured for Dani to enter the room. It was a small living room with dark wood furniture covered in floral patterns from a bygone era. The shelves were adorned with old black-and-white photos in ornate wooden frames and of little ceramic replicas of birds and flowers. Dani would never have pegged Commander Taliesin Powers for living in such a traditional setting. She watched as Powers reached for an old photograph of an older woman with a young, toe-headed boy in shorts, by the beach.

"This was my grandmother's house," she said. "That's us."

Dani laughed out loud. "I thought that was a boy," she said.

"Me before puberty, I suppose."

"Is your grandmother here now?" she asked, looking for the stairs around the corner of a hallway. "I mean, I didn't know you had family so close."

Powers carefully replaced the photograph on the fireplace mantel. "I don't," she said. With her back to Dani, she said: "She passed on this week."

"Commander Powers," Dani whispered. "I'm sorry. Does my mom know?"

Dani heard a sniffle but in a nanosecond, it was like it had all been an illusion. Commander Powers was back to stiff-backed, Starfleet-issue composure. "Admiral Janeway does not," she said. "And I'd like it to remain so, if you don't mind."

"No, sure. I just thought…."

Powers looked up at Dani. "I'm heading to the burial ceremony," she said. "It will just be me—"

"I can go with you."

Powers started to shake her head.

"Please," she whispered. "Let me be your friend."

She studied Dani Janeway's face for a long moment before glancing down at her casual jumpsuit. "You'll have to replicate a dress uniform."

"Show me where," Dani said.

=/\=

They transported to a small town in the Northern European Sector called Presteigne. Dani thought it was like time traveling back to the Middle Ages with the terraced houses and shops, white washed and ribbed in wood. At the end of a street they came to an imposing gray, arched building encrusted with stained glass. Next to it was a square bell tower. The small lawn was neatly trimmed around the stone head stones of the cemetery that surrounded the building.

They walked up a rock path to enter the church. Inside, hundreds of candles flickered and burned. The soft flair of organ music carried through the high chapel. At the far end of the chapel was a large crucifix hanging on the wall with an altar covered in ornately embroidered linen. An older man, wearing black with a fingernail of white at his throat, met them at the front.

"Are you here for the remembrances of the departed?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Vicar," Commander Powers said. "For Damaris Beckwith."

He glanced at a chronometer. "We still have a few more moments, we can await the arrival of other family—"

"There will be none," Powers said.

The old man squinted at the woman. "Are you Tifren? I baptized you when you were a—"

"I'm her daughter," Powers said.

"Tifren's daughter?" the man seemed puzzled. "Were you born in Presteigne then?"

"No, sir," she replied. "Off world."

He studied her for a long moment. "Where is your mother, my child?"

"She is unavailable," Powers said. "Can we proceed, sir?"

The vicar's homily of his long friendship with Damaris Beckwith was so long, the old man began to sway from fatigue. At one point, Dani estimated how fast she thought she could jump to catch the man before he fell head-long into the open grave. Just when he'd seemed to cover what Dani thought was every detail of the woman's long life, he ended the service by reciting a prayer.

A heartrending sound brought Dani's attention back to the woman standing beside her.

Powers sobbed once and without even thinking about it, Dani took the woman in her arms. Dani's long arms easily enveloped her small frame. Nearly a head shorter, the woman was sobbing into Dani's shoulder while Dani rubbed her back soothingly.

The woman felt good and Dani wanted to slam a fist into her own thigh to stop that thought. It wasn't the proper time and yet, she couldn't suppress the feelings. The full breasts against her own made it difficult to know what to say. But finally, her mind cleared and she knew.

"It's okay," Dani whispered. "Everything will be okay. I promise."

After a long moment, Powers pulled away and wiped her tears with the cuff of her sleeve. She gripped Dani's hand and together they sprinkled dirt onto the casket as it lay in the freshly dug pit.

"Thank you," Powers whispered, offering another squeeze of her hand.

Dani nodded and then felt her own sense of loss when Powers let go of her.

The Commander shook the man's hand and thanked him, and he followed suit with Dani. He gestured for them to return to the chapel a several meters up the hill.

"It's brilliant to see Starfleet uniforms once again," he said as he ambled. "But I don't really care for the new design. Why can't the old bodgers just stick with the traditional set? Change, change, change. There is a lot to be said for traditions. When your mother—pardon, grandmother, Damaris was an admiral, there was respect for the customs and practices before. Starfleet should erect a monument to her and your grandfather."

"Thank you, Vicar," Powers said, turning to him outside the wooden door of the chapel. "They were wonderful people." She offered her hand and the man animatedly shook it.

"Blessings to you, then," he said. "And bring your children back to Presteigne. I'll properly baptize the little darlings."

Powers' face darkened and she nodded once. "G'day, Vicar," she said and walked away. Dani still had to endure the old man's pleasantries for a moment longer before she turned and sprinted to catch up with Powers, who had seemed to be double-timing back to the carriage.

On the carriage ride back to the transporter station, Powers peered out at the Welsh countryside with its rolling green hills. Dani watched the woman, who seemed to be in a great deal of pain. _She's a volcano under a polar ice cap_, she thought grimly. She doesn't think anyone would have guessed.

Powers was rigidly, her arms folded toward her body, her hands covered in the ever-present gloves and her gaze elsewhere. That's when Dani saw the faint lights behind her ear. She'd seen this phenomenon while she was hiding from Shannon under the shrub, but she hadn't mentioned it. Dani hadn't been sure she'd seen correctly. Now there was no mistaking a small positronic exceiver behind her ear, its small red, blue and white lights flashing intermittently.

Powers glanced uncomfortably at Dani, who just offered a faint smile. At the friendly gesture, Powers laid a hand on Dani's and seemed to prefer to watch where their skin touched. "Dani, I want to apologize for the length of the—"

"Please don't," she said, turning a bit and taking Powers hand in her own. She squeezed it gently to emphasize her words. "I'm glad I could be here for you."

Dani leaned forward and down, trying to catch Powers line of sight. When she did, Dani added: "You know that, right. I'm here for you, whenever."

Powers nodded once, and whispered: "Thank you then."

=/\=

The next morning, Dani ordered the computer to turn off the alarm. She and her squad had spent the remainder of the day helping Taliesin Powers empty the house of its contents—all without an anti-grav sled. It was working on the farm again in Indiana and her muscles were confused and letting her know about it in the most painful way possible.

But a promise she'd made to her squad member, Myrie Solon was coming back to haunt her, at 600 hours no less. They were supposed to do cardios together, in preparation for the cadet physical fitness testing coming up. Dani decided that another day of lying in bed would do her more good than suffering through a Vulcan's idea of training.

There was a chime at her door. "Computer, who is it?"

"_Myrie Solon."_

"Tell her I'm busy."

The chime persisted and Dani finally opened the door in her gray Starfleet pajamas. Myrie slowly looked at the tall, auburn-haired woman, head to toe in a searing examination. "That is unsuitable attire for PT training," she stated.

Dani made a sarcastic face. "Didn't you get my message? I can't make it."

Myrie tipped her head to one side, considering her squad leader's condition. "You stated you were dead," she said in a drone. "That does not appear to be the case."

Dani rotated an arm and grimaced. "I'm sore," she said. "Really, really sore and so it feels like being dead."

"Have you ever been dead?"

Dani closed her eyes, took a deep breath and shook her head. "No, I haven't. It's an expression."

"Ahh," Myrie said, trying to peer behind her squad leader. "Then I must be interrupting coitus."

Dani's eyes snapped open and became twin moons. She stuck her head into the hallway to ensure that no one had overheard the comment. "No, you aren't," she hissed. "It's not that kind of sore, you know. I was moving heavy furniture yesterday."

"Ahh," Myrie replied again. "From your cross tone, I surmise you are in need of coital release today."

She stepped past Dani and began to remove her clothes, the door sliding shut as she did.

"What the hell, Myrie!"

She continued to remove her gray jumpsuit, unzipping as far down as her waist to reveal a hint of pert alabaster breasts.

"What are you doing, Cadet?" Dani squeaked.

She tipped her head to one side. "I am preparing for intercourse."

Dani gave her a contorted face of frustration.

"With you, Eridani."

"Zip up," Dani ordered. "Do it, Cadet."

Myrie seemed genuinely puzzled. "I am aware of your preference for same gender encounters," she said.

"We can't have sex, Myrie," Dani said.

"Why can we not?"

"Because! I hardly know you! We've never even dated and I don't love you!"

Myrie relaxed. "I do not require love for this union."

Dani held up a hand when Myrie motioned ready to unzip again. "Get out," she ordered.

"Love is not essential."

"It is for me."

Myrie shook her head. "I did not expect this."

"Why not?"

"The other cadets stated that you enjoyed noncommittal copulation."

Dani growled. "Please tell them to go straight to hell." She stood at the door, holding it open with the presence of her body in the doorway.

"But what if they do not believe in an afterlife, or in that particular theory."

"Goodbye, Myrie," she said, as she slammed her palm over the door release.

Suddenly her body ached again. She dimmed the lights and started to crawl back into bed, until green text began to telegraph across her visual centers.

_You can't go back to bed._

"You go to hell, too," she snarled at The Messenger in her head.

_Shannon is coming._

Dani stopped and waited for another word. "I need more," she said aloud, though she knew she only had to think the thoughts for the Messenger to magically hear them.

_She's closer._

"Computer, locate Cadet Shannon Janeway."

"Cadet Shannon Janeway is in Nimitz Hall."

Nimitz? That was Dani's dorm room. She started to scramble for her clothes. "Is she decked?"

The computer responded._ "Please restate the question."_

Dani frowned and thought the question instead and the Messenger replied.

_Fully decked, with outboard micro-suspensors for hands and feet. She has another pair in her backpack._

Dani looked around for the holos she'd stolen from—

_Tybelius Parmiller is with her._

Dani picked up the pace and was dressed in less than a minute, sporting her own micro-suspensors.

She heard a scrape near the window and froze. Then she saw the window go completely transparent and 100 percent permeable, allowing Shannon Janeway to sail through it. No one was supposed to be able to do that from the outside of the building, but Dani didn't have to think about that. Shannon was headed straight for her sister and was on target to plaster Dani against the far wall.

But Dani jumped out into the hall and bolted down the hallway. She heard a loud thud behind her but she didn't stop to see. She needed to get to the open air.

A laser ball whirred past her, barely missing her. If it would have hit her, she would have been knocked immobile from its neuromuscular incapacitator. It was not life-threatening but really inconvenient and painful. Over her shoulder she saw the circular, flying orb slam against a door and fall to the deck. The cadet who opened his door erroneously believing someone to be there was hit by its companion. Blue electricity fired around his surprised face, as it rotated around his body and then downward, finally disappearing into the grounded decking. He fell back.

"Bad timing," she muttered, as she skidding around a corner. She heard more laser balls being launched.

_Open the dorm doors,_ The Messenger urged.

"That's wrong," she muttered.

_If you don't, you'll get tagged. If you get tagged, Tybelius will retrieve the images and Shannon will never see them. If she never sees them, then it your word against his and she won't trust you because _you_ stole _his_ things. _

"Dammit!" she growled as she activated every dorm room door on her way to the far end of the building.

The laser balls were attracted to the movements and were diverted from their original target to the unsuspecting marks answering their doors. She heard countless gasps but kept running until she got to the end of the hallway.

"Computer, set window permeability to 100 percent, my location. Now."

Dani Janeway heard the computer reply, _"Window permeability set to…"_ when she sailed out the fourth story window with her micro-suspensors on full power.

She leaned back and her suspensors veered right, missing the edge of Cavitt Hall nearby. But she used Cavitt to propel her forward about 25 feet over other cadets and Starfleet officers below.

She whirled by several other buildings trying to build up the speed she would need to escape the Presidio grounds. Once she made it to Pacific Heights the crowds would be thick enough to hide her in plain sight.

She came to rest near the Baker Street Bistro. She plastered herself against a brick wall and tried to catch her breath. She saw her sister and Ty Parmiller sail past her overhead.

"Suckers," she whispered.

_You can't go that way,_ the Messenger said.

Why not? she thought.

_Look up._

She peered up in time to see three Starfleet security officers, riding in one-man aeroriders zoom past her in hot pursuit of her sister and Parmiller.

She shrugged and laughed. Let them get caught, she thought. Or not. Evasion is a good exercise, particularly against a savvy opponent.

_The problem is not evasion, Dani. Shannon will fall, shattering the bones of her legs. _

Dani continued to walk in the opposite direction that The Messenger had indicated.

Let Tybelius Parmiller help her.

_Look up again._

Dani's face grew hard when she saw someone—a male in a Cadet uniform gliding back in the direction of the Presidio.

Security will—

_They won't find her in time. She's hiding.  
_

"Dammit it all!" she finally bellowed, drawing startled looks from passersby. She executed a sharp about-face and started sprinting in the direction that The Messenger had urged.

She was about to slip on the micro-suspensors but The Messenger said no. Instead, she was led through a maze of alleys and back streets until she came to a garbage dumpster.

_She's inside._

Dani climbed up, breathing through her mouth to avoid the stench of decay. She lifted the rusty top gate to find her sister lying on top of garbage, her face contorted in pain.

"Dani!" she cried in relief. "He left me! I can't move my legs and the bastard left me."

Dani heard the whine of the Starfleet security aeroriders and she jumped in and let the gate envelop them in darkness. "Come here often on dates, do ya?" she whispered, trying to lighten the mood.

But Shannon started to sob.

"Don't cry," she whispered back.

"My legs are really messed up," she said.

Dani patted what she thought was her sister's shoulder but it was an injured leg and Shannon cried out in pain.

"Shut up, will you?"

"That hurts, damn you!"

"Damn you for mixing with that Tybelius Parmiller!"

"He told me he loved me," she sobbed again.

"Not more than himself, evidently," she said. Dani instantly regretted the words when Shannon began to weep again.

Dani felt her own eyes sting and it wasn't the rotting onions in there. She wiped at her eyes and promised herself that she was going to devote the rest of her term at the Academy to making him pay.

_Forget about him,_ The Messenger said.

Forget about him?! Don't you see what he's done to my sister!

_Give her the holos, Dani. _

What?

_Let her see them._

But she's in pain.

_And she will be in more pain after she sees his treachery. _

I can't do that! she wailed in her mind. It will hurt her!

_You must comply. _

I can't.

_If you don't, you will not sever this particular timeline thread. She will return to him._

She fell back against the side of the garbage dumpster. A rod poked her back and she gasped, reaching behind herself in the dark to slap at a stick or whatever was stabbing her. She shoved it away, with great effort because she was sitting on some of it. The action caused the garbage inside to shift and Shannon was forced to adjust herself, causing her to shriek in pain.

"Shh," Dani said.

"It hurts!" Shannon growled.

"Security will hear you."

_They are gone,_ The Messenger said. _Now give her the holos._

Dani fished it out of her thigh pocket and turned it on. In the darkness of the garbage dumpster it played vividly.

"What the hell is this?" Shannon whispered. "Matinee time?"

"This is from Ty's bedroom."

Dani could make out the outline of her sister's face from the holo light and when she came to the devastatingly intimate scenes recorded there, the agony on Shannon's face pierced her own heart.

"Why did you take this?" Shannon asked with a sniffle.

"Because I wanted you to see the sort of man he is."

"He's an ass…"

"A coward and a—"

"A liar," she replied with a grunt of pain. "He accused you of taking something from his father—test answers."

"That's why you've been hounding me," Dani said, putting the pieces together.

"I was trying to help you!" she wailed. "Even if you didn't want it."

"That's what I've been doing, too, you know."

"How could I have been so blind?" Shannon asked through a hiccup cry.

"He's a really good liar," Dani said. "And a selfish, conniving _petaQ_."

"What am I going to do?" Shannon's voice trembled.

Dani took the holo and smashed it against the dumpster. The light it emitted flashed off and they were plunged into darkness once again. "Break up," she said. "For good."

"Help me out of here, will you?" Shannon said.

Dani was relieved to hear the Janeway determination back in her voice.

"Maybe we can grab a cab back to The Presidio," Shannon said.

Right before Dani was going to say "sure," The Messenger had an alternate order.

_Take her to a small clinic around the corner. _

"What?" Dani nearly yelled.

"What what?" Shannon said.

_Do it,_ The Messenger ordered.

"There's a clinic just around the corner."

"I don't want to go to a clinic," she said. "I want to go to Starfleet Medical."

_Too far,_ The Messenger said. _She will die._

"Too far," Dani said with a hitch.

"How are you going to get me out of here?"

Dani activated her micro-suspensors and lifted her sister with an "oof."

"Hold on, Shay," she said.

With Shannon's weight, she was barely able to make it over the dumpster. But she got enough lift and they landed with only a slight thud.

Shannon shoved her face into her sister's chest and squeezed her jacket with both hands. "Shit, Dani! That hurt!"

"Sorry," Dani replied. Dani reached down and activated her sister's micros. "I think your legs are broken."

"Hurry," she said.

=/\=

The clinic was a small storefront near the working-class part of San Francisco. There were blue skinned people with blond hair and antennae, brown skinned people with forehead ridges and even some humans among the throng sitting idly in the noisy waiting room.

Dani pushed the traditional doors open with her hand micro-suspensors and was barely able to get her sister onto the desk of the intake clerk. "She needs to see a doctor," she said.

The intake clerk was a Bajoran with a ridged nose and an earring dangle to one side. She wore a high-necked blue blouse with a medical caduceus to the right of center and her brown hair was done up in a pile on her head. An old-fashioned console with squeaky keys lay before her and Dani could see that the symbols on the white keys were all rubbed off.

"You'll have to wait in line," she said.

Dani shook her head. "Can't," she said. "She's hurt bad."

"We're all hurt bad, sweetheart," said a blue skinned woman with a low-cut blouse standing near the front of the line.

"Dani, I can't breathe," Shannon wheezed, grabbing her own throat.

Dani's face hardened and she did an end run around the desk, pulled back a frayed blue curtain. "Where's the damn doctor," she bellowed.

A dark-haired man, not nearly as tall as her, stepped out. Really, Dani thought he was more boy. He looked to be about Shannon's age with round glass frames holding up spectacles to his deeply blue eyes.

"I'm the damn doctor," he said with a hint of amusement.

"Are you sure?" Dani growled. "You don't look old enough to clean the toilets."

He quirked a corner of his mouth to reveal a deep dimple. "I graduated top of my class at latrine school before getting my doctor of medicine degree from Indiana University School of Medicine," he said. "So you're in luck. I can do both."

Shannon's panicked panting brought him to her. Her face was pail and sweaty and her breathing was labored. She couldn't even speak. He dropped his padd, reached into his white coat and retrieved old-fashioned scissors to slice off Shannon's bloodied leggings. He peeled the fabric back to reveal a part of her femur sticking up from the thigh. "Nurse!" he bellowed. "Bring a hypospray of prialyn."

In a few nanoseconds, he placed the hyspospray at her neck and Dani heard the hiss of its activation. "Hypospray of pulmozine," he ordered.

Before he'd even finished speaking, his nurse, a Klingon male that hulked even over Dani, had placed the requested hypospray in his grasp. Another hiss was heard and Shannon's face became pink again. Her labored breathing began to return to normal.

"Martok," said the doctor. "Can you please take this patient to a bed so we can attend to her other wounds."

Dani tried to follow but the doctor stopped her. "You'll have to wait here."

"But I'm her sister."

"That may be," he said softly. "But I need to operate right away and you are filthy and you'll take germs in with you. Do you want that?"

She shook her head, peering over his head to try to see where they'd taken her.

"The best thing you can do is answer questions for the intake clerk and answer the Starfleet security when they come."

"You called security?"

"No," he said, looking back at the cameras that lined each corner of the waiting room. "I'm sure the police are on their way and with your uniforms, it's only logical they called Academy security."

"Will she be okay?"

"The worst is over," he assured her.

"What was it?"

"Pulmonary embolism," he called over his shoulder as he hurried back through the curtain.

=/\=

Right on cue, it was like a damned convention of Starfleet Officers had opened at the little clinic on Polk Street. "The restrooms are over there," said the intake clerk, pointing to a stained door behind her.

"Huh?" Dani said in a daze.

"Oh, pardon my common language," she said sarcastically. "I mean the 'ensuite' is behind you."

Dani frowned. She just hadn't heard the woman. That's all. She turned to the windows to watch the adjutants and admirals stream out of a shuttle craft right on Polk Street, vehicles and foot traffic having been diverted by police.

"Yo, Starfleet," the intake clerk yelled. "You smell bad. Go freshen up before your boss fires your ass."

The waiting crowd chuckled, while some hooted. She nodded and muttered thanks as she strode by.

When she emerged 15 minutes later, several adjutants had migrated in, including Commander Sinclair, who reported to Starfleet Commander in Chief Leyton. She remembered his disembodied head on Powers' desk and nearly smiled, except she was tired and angry. In typical fashion, The Messenger got her into this travesty but was excruciatingly silent. And Dani was stuck with the consequences.

"Cadet Janeway," Sinclair sneered. "I should have known."

"Excuse me, Commander?" she asked.

"We received reports of an illicit chase on micro-suspensors between three cadets and Starfleet security. Two of them apparently are Janeways." He leaned in and, for effect, whispered. "I don't think anyone is surprised."

She thought of a million sarcastic replies, but knew that there was nothing she could say that would exonerate her. The micros were illegal. Using them was illegal. She wasn't really worried or frightened about what Starfleet could do to her. It's not like she wanted to be here. The Messenger had foisted Starfleet Academy on her just as surely as it had made her sabotage the holodeck gravity emitters that day long ago on Voyager.

There was nothing to fear until she saw a short redhead with silver streaks appear outside.

Her mother's "pardon me" echoed in her head as threaded through the throngs. She came upon the duo and looked at Dani Janeway. "Are you all right?"

"I'm—I'm fine," she said. "But—"

"She's under arrest," Sinclair said too happily.

Dani's eyes went a little wide. She hadn't expected that.

Admiral Janeway turned slowly to Sinclair. "Commander, may I have a moment with _my daughter_."

"Well, I don't think that would be proper?"

Her face twisted sourly. "You don't _think_ it would be proper?"

"Not at all," he said. "You would be forced to testify against your own daughter and well, that would be morale sapping."

"Commander," she said with the full whip of authority. "Give me a few moments with my daughter or I'll bust you down to crewman so fast, Section 31 will seize you for time traveling."

He pulled himself up and glanced at his wrist chronometer. "You have three minutes," he said with a hiss.

Janeway turned back. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked softly.

"Yeah, just a little shaken," she said. "But Shay…" When she said her sister's name, Dani finally broke down and started weeping. "She almost died, Cappie."

Janeway gave a sympathetic look before looking around at the Starfleet suits that lined the perimeter of the entrance. "Darling," she whispered. "We cannot have this part of the conversation here."

Dani squeaked assent when she nodded.

"Cadet," Janeway said a little more firmly. "I need you to get a grip."

Dani brushed her tears away with the cuff of her sleeve and straightened to attention. "Yes, admiral," she said. This time there was no trace of the broken girl inside.

"That's my girl," the Admiral said. "Now you must listen. Under no circumstances are you to share any information about the incident in question, whether leading up to or including the actual event—"

Dani opened her mouth to speak but the Admiral raised a finger and kept speaking. "Unless I, Commander Powers or a representative from the JAG office are present with you. Is that understood, Cadet?"

"Understood, Admiral," she said with a little dismay.

Admiral Janeway gave her daughter a small pat on the cheek. "When Sinclair comes back in, you will likely be escorted out by Starfleet security and I expect, as a Janeway, that you will offer them your full and complete cooperation, except in the instances I have outlined."

"Am I going to the brig?" she asked with a hitch in her voice.

"Likely not," she said bluntly. "You may be confined to quarters—at least you should be according to Starfleet protocols. But…" She quirked a brow. "Sinclair has never cared for Seven of Nine and being who you are, you may likely get caught up in this political maelstrom that otherwise would have gotten you a slap on the wrist."

Dani squinted, trying to make The Messenger reply. But, of course, she couldn't. It was a capricious advisor and never served her beck-and-call. _Damn useless thing_, she thought crossly.

The Admiral's deep blue eyes searched the face of her daughter and Dani felt suddenly exposed, causing her to blush furiously. "Are you sure you are all right, Cadet?" the Admiral inquired.

She tugged down her tunic. "I'm ready, Admiral," she said, watching the window where she could see Sinclair begin to thread back into the building.

The Admiral was about to step aside when Dani grabbed her arm. "Cappie, will you please keep me posted about Shannon?"

Admiral Janeway patted her daughter's hand. "I'll do my best."

=/\=

Dani lay halfway on her bed, hitting a ball in the air with a micro-suspensor on a hand. "I'm fine, Pim," she said.

An image of the large Zaldan was projecting to a point on her desk, but she couldn't see it.

"You have been confined to quarters for nearly 12 hours and you don't look fine. The squad requests permission to—"

She bolted upright. "Denied, Taranis!" she said with the whip of command. "All of you need to stay away. I don't want any of you to get caught up in this mess."

"We are already 'caught up,'" he said.

She narrowed her eyes on his 3D projection. "How so?"

"Academy and Starfleet security personnel have questioned all three of us."

"What did you say?"

"What could we say, Janeway? We did not know of your early morning building surf."

Dani visibly relaxed. "That's good," she said, falling back on the bed.

There was a chime at her door and she dismissed Pim, after ordering him to remain aloof. She opened the door to a pleasant surprise.

"Commander Powers," Dani said. "I wasn't expecting you."

"Admiral Janeway asked me to check on you," she said. "May I come in?"

Dani flourished a hand. "Of course, you're always welcome."

Powers stepped in and looked around. "When I was a cadet," she said. "Our quarters were smaller and did not carry the amenities you have."

Dani frowned. "That's what AJ says," she said. "What she fails to mention is that they had to learn less, too, since scientific knowledge doubles every year and all that."

"Touché," she said, finally turning to smile. She gently patted Dani's shoulder. "How are you doing, Cadet?"

"Oh, I'm just fine," she said. "I just wish someone would tell me about how Shannon's doing."

"Your mother gave me those details before she sent me over, so I can discuss them or, if you like, you may wait for her. She indicated she'd be by sometime today."

Dani gestured to the sofa, where Powers found a spot, while she took up the other.

"In addition to the broken legs, Shannon suffered a pulmonary embolism, which occurs when a blood clot in one of her legs traveled to her lungs."

Dani nodded. "I remember her hysteria about not being able to breath. Actually, I remember my own much more."

"If you would have tried to take to Starfleet Medical, she would have likely not survived," she said quietly.

Dani lifted her brows. The Messenger saved them again. But Dani somehow felt very little joy, though she was relieved her sister would be fine. It's just that there were simpler ways to avoid all of the heartache and The Messenger seemed to go out of its way to provide the most painful way possible.

But Dani was alone with Taliesin Powers so that lifted her mood somewhat. "Is she home yet?"

"She will be released from the hospital tomorrow and the Admiral is expecting Cadet Janeway to return home with her,"

Dani nodded, relieved. "One less thing to worry about," she muttered.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Dani stood up. "I'm like the worst hostess ever," she said lightly. "Would you care for coffee or tea?"

Powers shook her head. "No, thank you, Cadet."

Dani was hoping she'd say yes, just to give her something to do. Dani walked to the window to look out. Her view of the Presidio was a fine one, being an upperclassman. She could see the main plaza and watch other cadets walking and chatting as they bustled to and from. She was envious of them.

"Dani, are you really all right? I understand from the Admiral that Shannon's injuries were quite horrific to witness."

Dani didn't think she needed to say anything but suddenly, and to her own surprise, she burst out crying. "I almost lost her," she sobbed.

Instantly, she felt warm hands on her back and Taliesin Powers beside her. She was rubbing Dani's back and quietly cooing. "You saved your sister, Dani," she said. "You should feel very proud of yourself."

Dani turned into the embrace and sobbed more. "It should have been me shot down, Tal, not Shannon!"

"No, no, you can't help whom they shot. You didn't choose for your sister to be the target."

"I started that entire micro-suspensor challenge with Shannon. I should have been the one to fall and break my legs."

"It's not your fault, Dani," she whispered into Dani's ear. "None of it was your fault and I know freak accidents. This was one."

"I did my best," Dani whispered.

"Aye, you did do that," she whispered.

Dani wept for a few more moments in the Commander's arms. Only when she began to notice her reaction to the woman's breasts and thighs pressed into hers did she stop crying. She pulled back and looked into the woman's mismatched eyes. Dani realized she preferred the gold flecks that highlighted both of them. What amazed her was that Taliesin Powers was studying her, too, and she could see the reflected desire in her eyes.

Then she looked down at her lips. The bottom one was plumper and without thinking she leaned into it. She was about to touch their lips together when Taliesin Powers' hands whipped to the front to gently push Dani away and the woman averted her face. "Dani," she said. "That is inappropriate."

Dani's mouth dropped open and she stared in open shock at the woman. "But-but-but you wanted me to kiss you!" Dani protested.

Taliesin Powers frowned. "I most certainly did not," she said. She tugged her tunic down indignantly.

Dani narrowed her eyes. She _knew_ that Taliesin Powers was hot for her. Dammit!

"Perhaps I should go."

"No!—I mean, I'm sorry! Okay, it won't happen again."

Powers studied her for a long moment. "You must be feeling better then?"

Dani blushed a little and nodded. "Yes, thank you, Commander."

She lifted her chin and took her hands behind her back. "Well, it wasn't anything I did—"

"Or didn't do," Dani offered, earning a withering glance from the Commander.

"You are absolutely shameless, Dani Janeway."

"Only stating the obvious."

Commander Powers gave the Cadet a scolding sideways glance. After a few more moments of silence, Powers looks at the door. "I better get to the office," she said. "Is there—"

"Please don't go, Commander," she said. "I am so bored I may have to resort to tapping into the vid feeds of my squad."

"Which is illegal, by the way," Powers said in a chiding but amused voice.

"That's what boredom does to me. So if you could stay we could, I don't know, play a game of—"

"Kadis-kot?"

Dani grimaced involuntarily. "Um, I had enough kadis-kot on Voyager to last a lifetime. My nemesis, Naomi, was an absolute fanatic."

"All right," she said. "Nix the kadis-kot. How about strategema?"

"Or poker?"

Powers crossed her arms and stared at Dani for a moment.

"You don't know how," Dani surmised.

"Oh, I know how, all right," she said. "I believe we should determine the stakes now—"

"Strip—five card draw, nothing wild."

"Absolutely not," she said, shaking her head emphatically. "Your mother the Admiral is expected at any moment and the last thing she needs is to catch us playing strip poker. Can you imagine?"

Dani was about to reach for the freshly replicated deck of cards when she stopped to look at the woman. "So if my mother wasn't en route, you'd play?"

"No," she said, removing her jacket. "Under _no_ circumstances would I play that game with you."

Dani shuffled the deck. "So then what are the stakes, if we remove the good ones?"

Powers cracked her knuckles loudly. "My flat needs a good sort out," she said.

Dani faked a grimace, knowing that she would do any 'sort out' (whatever it was) for free if it meant being with Powers. But she'd never tell the woman that. The fun would be in, well, sorting it all out with a game of cards.

"And if you win, Cadet?" Powers asked, as she pulled out one of the two chairs around a small table by the replicator station.

"A date."

Powers' smile vanished. "Think of another," she said, pushing the chair back into place against the edge of the table.

"All right," she said, in a placating tone. "How about you help me with my temporal mechanics paper?"

Powers gave her a skeptical look.

"Really, Commander," she said, taking her seat at the small, round table. "The Admiral my mother said my thesis was lacking in several key areas, including scholarship and evaluation."

"I aced TM," she said, as she pulled out the chair and sat down.

Dani paused in the shuffling. "Are you conceding already?"

"That would be completely mad," she said. "Now deal the cards."

=/\=

An hour later, the dorm chimed and Dani opened it. "Hello, Admiral Janeway," she said, stepping aside.

The Admiral marched in, followed closely by two other Starfleet officers, the first a Bajoran woman and the second a human. The man was covering the room with a tricorder, intent on his task.

Admiral Janeway greeted the Commander. "Commander Powers and Cadet Janeway, this is Lt. Commander Jaro Anaydis, with JAG and Crewman Yon."

Other than greetings, the foursome watch in silence as Crewman Yon swept the room. When he'd come to the sofa, he stopped, his tricorder was giving loud warnings. He retrieved a small transmitter from underneath and crushed it. After he'd finished the room, he nodded to Commander Jaro and Admiral Janeway. "The room is clean now, Admiral."

"Thank you, crewman."

Commander Jaro set the controls on her wrist padd and it projected holo information in front of the three others, directly in front of them. "Cadet Janeway," she said. "I will be representing you as an officer with the Judge Advocate General's office. You will speak to no one unless I am present."

"What about my mom?"

"No one," she said simply.

Dani looked to the Admiral, but nodded her assent. "I understand, Commander."

"Here are the facts of the case," she said. She relayed the timeline of the incident, when eye witnesses had seen the three leave the Presidio and when they were picked up on surveillance cameras doing so. She reviewed the pursuit, and Shannon's fall and subsequent injuries, as well as her current condition.

"But there are several problems with the official summary," Jaro said.

"Which are?" Janeway asked.

"The two security officers stated they fired on Cadets Janeway and Parmiller while they were buildering," she said. "But that action is against Starfleet protocol for the reasons that have injured Cadet Janeway."

"Are you saying it was an assassination attempt?" Janeway asked, visibly disturbed by the question.

"I don't know," she said. "What I do know is that two of the three security officers are AWOL."

"What of the third security officer?" Powers asked. "What was his account?"

"He does not seem to recall the incident," she said bluntly.

Janeway stepped to the window and crossed her arms. "Tell me, Commander Jaro, were the other officers Ferengi by chance?"

She flipped through her holo information, the data, holo stills and video whirred by so fast that Dani had to look away. "We are not sure," Jaro said finally. "Their personnel files indicate they were human and Vulcan, but eyewitnesses unanimously describe them as Ferengi."

"The officers are missing," Powers explained.

Jaro stopped and looked up at Powers. "What do you mean?"

"What else can explain the facts other than Ferengi replaced them just for this moment?'

"What did I ever do the Ferengi?" Dani asked.

Janeway turned around and looked at her daughter. "Nothing, darling," she said. "Absolutely nothing."

Dani frowned. "So are we being charged with something?"

"Not yet," she said. "They are still investigating. If we can find holes in the data, then certainly they can, too. But I'll bet you nine orbs that they are working overtime to plug the holes."

"What do you suggest, Jaro?" Admiral Janeway asked.

"We'll continue to review their findings, but I don't really see how they can pin anything on your daughters," she said. "Unfortunately, Dani will have to remain confined until the Academy either exonerates her or files formal charges."

"Terrific," Janeway and her daughter said at the same time.

"What am I supposed to do here?" Dani asked.

"Study," Admiral Janeway said, over her shoulder as she motioned for the commanders to follow her. "I'll see you tomorrow, Dani."

=/\=

Admiral Janeway and Commander Powers had parted ways with Jaro Anaydis and only after they'd gotten some distance from her did Janeway finally let out a long breath.

"I have to take a leave of absence," she said without preamble.

"Excuse me, Admiral?"

"I will leave tomorrow after I see the girls."

"I know this is not my place, but is this really the best time to take leave?"

"There's more to this story and I'm much more cynical than the good Commander Jaro about how it will end," Janeway said. She revealed the visit last week from Mr. Gral. "He said 'more softening would be required.' I believe the attempt on Shannon's life was not meant to succeed. It was a warning shot, Powers. I have to get to the bottom of this and the answers are with Seven of Nine."

"So you are going to the Altinak system?"

"I've already arranged someone to cover my lectures and my subcommittee meetings," she said. "I'll need your help to look after the girls until I return—keep them out of trouble."

"That's no easy task," she said lightly.

"I know, my friend, but I trust no one else with it," Janeway stopped abruptly but continued to look forward. "And I've left instructions for you in the event, I don't return."

"Admiral," Powers said solemnly.

"It's a precaution," she said. "For the girls, but I fully intend to return with my bride."

=/\=

That night, Janeway went home to pack. She was taking warm clothes—all civies—because what she was about to do would not be condoned by or tolerated from high-ranking Starfleet officials. After she'd gotten together a small valise, she had one more visit to make.

Starfleet Medical would be rife with vid holos recording everyone's every move. Kathryn Janeway covered her signature salt and ruby hair with a brown cowl and she made her way on the edges of the corridors, until she came to the access for the seventh floor. Restricted. Dammit.

She hit the elevator button for six and walked along the nearly empty white and gray corridors. A doctor—or someone in a white coat—exited from a laboratory. Janeway noticed that it was empty and at the end of the hall. She entered, looking for the comm center. She fumbled with the new-fangled 3D controls, cursing her shaking hands and the advancement of unnecessary technology. When she found what she was looking for, she entered the data.

Immediately, she was connected to an empty station. In a few moments, the 3D display showed a familiar bald head. "State the nature of the medical emergency," he said in a bored voice.

"Doctor," she said.

His eyes became twin moons. "Captain—I mean, Admiral! It's so good of you to call me. I was just thinking the other day that I hardly ever hear from—"

"Doctor," she whispered. "I'd love to reminisce but now is not a good time."

"Oh, well, no. It is 300 hours after all."

"I need your help."

"Anything," he said.

=/\=

The next day, Admiral Janeway touched the alert to her daughter's dorm room. It was 600 hours and she knew that it was early for any cadet, but most especially for her eldest daughter. She thought she'd be waiting for either Dani to awaken or Dani to shove hide her latest love interest. Before she could think more along those lines, the door slid open.

Dani was already wearing a gray jumpsuit and sweating. "AJ," she said. "I was doing cardios. Come in."

Janeway could see the holo projection of the same cardio instructor she'd had as a cadet. "I suppose cardios don't need to be reinvented," she said. Then she smiled at her daughter. "In any case, I'm interrupting your routine for a delicious but flagrantly decadent breakfast of donuts."

Admiral Janeway proffered a small, white box.

Dani's face beamed as she took the stasis box. Just before she peered inside, her mother added: "They are from Neelix' restaurant—a gift from him."

Dani's face fell precipitously. "They aren't like deep fried targ snouts, are they?"

"See for yourself."

Dani opened them and got a whiff of vanilla confection. She lifted one. The donut was the proper shape. She sniffed it again and tentatively nibbled some. "Mmm, real donuts," she said. She kissed her mother's cheek. "Thanks, AJ."

Admiral Janeway looked around as her daughter sat at a small table by the window. "Your dorm is well kept," she said.

Dani glared at her mother. "Don't sound so surprised," she said.

The Admiral crossed her arms and leaned against a wall to watch her daughter devour the breakfast.

"Want coffee?" Dani asked around a mouthful.

"No, but thank you," she said. "I've had plenty."

Dani tipped her head and noted the dark circles around her mother's eyes and then took in the civilian clothes she wore. "You okay, AJ?"

"I'm going to take a little trip."

Just as soon as her mother began to speak, The Messenger began to teletype text across her visual center.

_You must retrieve the optronic phaser and give it to her,_ it said.

Dani gasped.

The Admiral's eyes widened. "What, Dani?"

Dani shook her head, as if to try to push the Admiral off that line questions.

_She'll need it, Dani._

"Cadet?" the Admiral said, as Dani rose from her seat.

The donuts lay forgotten as she marched across the room.

"I have to give you something," she stated evenly.

Dani retrieved a small stasis tube from a drawer under her bed and gave it to her mother.

"What's this?" Janeway asked.

"For you," she said. "For your trip."

Janeway's face melted to dismay. "But I didn't…"

Dani shrugged and slinked back to the table, stuffing another bite of donut into her mouth. It would keep her from revealing too much. Admiral Janeway always got testy when The Messenger was involved.

"So you know where I'm going?"

_She's going to the Altinak system to retrieve your Borg mother,_ The Messenger said.

Dani didn't look at her mother but nodded. "Yes," she said.

"Where am I going then—?"

"Altinak," she whispered.

Janeway inhaled deeply. "I don't want to know anymore, do I?"

_Tell her that she must not sever Seven from the Collective, as she did the first time. If she does, she will lose her forever. _

Dani closed her eyes and shook her head. I can't tell her that.

There was no reply and Dani knew she'd get no reply from The Messenger.

She took a long draught of coffee and repeated the message softly.

Janeway's purple eyes were intent on her daughter.

"Has she been re-assimilated?" the Admiral asked.

Dani waited and repeated the question in her thoughts. Stupid, Messenger! she screamed into her head when it did not reply.

"So there was nothing more on her assimilation?"

"Negative, Admiral."

Her mother's grave face made Dani nearly stumble and she turned her focus toward the task at hand.

Will they return to me, Dani asked.

_Yes._

Dani urged her mother to open the stasis box. She placed her palm on the reader and it opened to reveal a weapon that looked like a phaser in every respect. She gave it to her mother, who seemed puzzled.

The Admiral weighed the feather light phaser. "Is this a hand-made weapon?"

"Yes, made entirely of polymer and it fires an optronic pulse."

"Optronic pulse? That could be dangerous—"

"Distrupting Borg translink frequencies."

She stared at it perplexed. "But The Messenger said I mustn't break Seven's link with the Collective."

Dani nodded, knowing that the message and the weapon seemed at odds. It was frequently the way of The Messenger to give contradictory orders. "Just take it. You'll know when the time comes."

"This is not how I envisioned our get-together," Janeway said. "I was going to say something profound and you were going to hug me and cry."

Dani blinked back some tears. "I can still hug you though, right?"

The embrace was fierce and constrictive. "You make me proud," Admiral Janeway said.

Dani pulled back and she could see the unspent tears in AJ's eyes. "You do, too. But I'll need you to come back."

"I will, darling. I promise."

Dani parted from her mother and gave her a critical look. "I'm not seven years old anymore and you can't make that promise."

"I can and I will. Bet on it."

_Tell her to pick up some strawberries at that fresh market stand by the transport station. Replicate a stasis tube for it before she leaves. _

Dani frowned at the odd gesture from The Messenger.

_Do it,_ it said.

"What, darling?" Janeway asked.

Dani raised a hand and replicated the required device and told her mother what do to with it.

She looked down. "You knew that strawberries are Seven's favorite?" Janeway asked.

Dani shook her head. "Actually, I didn't. I was told—"

Janeway lifted a hand to cut off the announcement. "I don't want to know," she said. Kathryn Janeway, Admiral and Temporal Mechanics professor, never wanted to know about The Messenger. But Dani knew that the ignorance did not imply a freedom. But her mother thought it did. And sometimes beliefs were stronger than reality.

She kissed her mother's cheek. "I'll see you later," she said.

Janeway patted Dani's cheek. "Yes, you will."


	6. The Liberated

**A/N: Thanks again for the reviews. Keep 'em coming. Oh, for the Star Trek sticklers out there, this chapter is so very non-canon, but I've never seen anything like this plot out there. If you like it, do say so in a review. Enjoy.**

**Rip In Time  
By Isobel Rowan**

**Part 1: Starfleet Academy  
Chapter 6: The Liberated**

Kathryn Janeway loosened the blue cowl around her face as she picked her way across the old transport ship's deck. She had to step over the three legs of a passenger who leered at her. Another passenger, a tall Nausicaan slammed into her shoulder, making her "oof."

The behemoth did not even register what would have been to him a minor bump. He continued to laugh and finish his jest as he and his companion continued down the corridor. She rubbed her shoulder and came to a stop in front of a portal. Below was the fourth planet in the Altinak system. It was a gray planet, like any other Borg world, with strings of lights crisscrossing the surface.

"The Klingon Transport Cob'lat has entered synchronous orbit with the non-aligned world Liberati. Disembarkment procedures will commence in 15 minutes. Passenger will be charged a ship-to-surface fee in the shuttle bay."

She was not surprised to be the only one in the launch bay. She'd heard others talking about Liberati in hushed tones. Borg were generally not welcome in most of the Federation and liberated Borg were not differentiated from their enslaved counterparts. Little was known officially about Liberati. The colony kept to itself and traded among a select group, but the trade agreements always mandated strict secrecy.

A Klingon female, with sharp teeth and a ripe odor, stood beside the on-ramp of a rather decrepit looking transport. Janeway tore her eyes away from the shuttle, fearful she'd see something seriously wrong with its systems. Instead she focused on the Klingon who was scrutinizing her up and down.

"You're rather small," she said in a heavily accented voice. "The Liberated usually only assimilate humans who can add _value _to their community."

"How much is the ship-to-surface fee?" she asked nonchalantly.

"1,200 credits."

Janeway tried not to choke. That hadn't been the agreed price, but she was anxious to see Seven and her transportation was limited unless she commandeered a Starfleet ship, which she would never do.

She electronically transferred the funds from her old padd to the Klingon's.

=/\=

When she stepped off the small shuttle on the surface, her nose was assaulted with the acrid smell of exhaust. She crinkled her nose but looked both ways down the gray corridor that was lined with conduits and access panels. She watched as a team of five Borg drones marched in perfect synchronicity past her.

She was still deciding the best route to take when a single Borg drone walked up to her. He was twice her height with webbed ears and unblinking almond eyes. He was a member of a race she'd never seen before today.

"Janeway, Kathryn, member of species 5618. Rank, Admiral, Starfleet. We are Six of Twenty-Four, Primary Adjunct to Unimatrix Zero Two."

"Hello, Six," she said.

The Borg tipped its head. "Do not be…alarmed."

She gave a half-hearted crooked smile. "I'm not alarmed," she lied. "But I would like to find my mate."

"Mate—counterpart, one of two, sexual partner—"

"Is Seven of Nine here, Six?" she asked looking around at the eyesore of a transport station.

"Seven of Nine…." His eyes glazed over and Janeway knew he was communicating with his collective.

Without preamble, he turned in a gawky manner, his artificial arm flailing with its gizmos whirling at the end. He began to march toward a single metal door, ducking to walk through it.

"I guess I'm following you," Janeway muttered.

The next room was more expansive, with walls double the height. But its impact was lessened by the continued stretch of conduits and exhaust vents. Like all of the rooms and corridors she'd walked through to get to this point, it was gray—walls, ceiling, decking, everything, even the conduits and vents. But this one had large windows that looked out onto a courtyard, of sorts, which was also gray. But she could see a carnelian sky.

When she heard the sound of rhythmic footfalls echoing down a corridor, she turned to find a small troop of Borg approaching her position. Kathryn Janeway caught her breath at the fourth among them. Seven of Nine appeared as if she'd never left the collective and an icy hand gripped Kathryn's heart.

The troop stopped and Seven stepped out. The entire exercise appeared as if it had been performed hundreds of times a day. The staging was perfectly measured down to the beat of steps.

Kathryn stepped forward and went to reach for Seven, but her hand seized Kathryn's wrist. "Greetings, Kathryn," Seven said without a single inflection.

Only when Kathryn relaxed her arm, did Seven relinquish it. It fell to her side, throbbing from the Borg iron grip. But Kathryn refused to allow anyone to see, least of Seven of Nine, that she'd been even the least bit hurt.

"I've missed you," she said quietly.

"That is irrelevant," Seven snapped. Then as if to soften the blow, she added: "You are here now. It is gratifying to us."

_To us?!_ Janeway thought. She looked down the line and finally saw a scowling Borg—a woman and, judging by her position in the troop, she appeared to be Seven's superior.

When Kathryn's eyes met hers, they glittered with hatred. Before she got caught up in her own pissing contest, Kathryn pulled back her emotions, forcing herself to use her logic. How could a Borg carry such emotions—so strong and negative? The answer did not sit well with her.

But she could do nothing about it at this very moment. Instead, she turned to face Seven of Nine. During their various subspace messages, she was aware of Seven's transformation back to Borg: the new implants, her wife now sported a spore shaped implant on her right cheek and the artificial eye that the Doctor had lovingly crafted for her was once again replaced by a Borg eyepiece with its disturbing protrusion. Her skin was more ashen than the video of the subspace messages could show, and it was blotchy, with not a single hair follicle on her head.

She was wearing the black suit of a Borg drone and her one-time human replica of a hand was replaced by a Borg appendage that was very long and festooned with rotating heads and gyroscopes.

Seven followed Janeway's line of sight and lifted the arm. "It is more efficient," she said, causing one of the heads to spin uncontrollably.

Janeway leaned closer. "More efficient for whom?" she asked.

Seven met the focus of Janeway's stare and tipped her head, as if the question had never occurred to her.

Before she could follow that line of thought, the Borg woman stepped out. She appeared to have been human as she stomped toward them. "Seven of Nine and Janeway, Kathryn," she said in that echo voice that many Borg seemed to possess. "The time index approaches to regenerate."

They walked to another large imposing gray building, completely indistinguishable from the first three that Janeway had seen—other than wave after wave of Borg drones were leaving the facility. The Borg woman, Seven of Nine and the five drones trailing them all stopped. They stared straight ahead, none watching the silent drones stomp by.

The departing drones fanned out, each like a bee leaving the hive with an assigned task.

The Borg woman entered and Seven followed her with Janeway close behind, along with the five other drones. This fourth building held corridor after unremarkable corridor of drab gray walls broken every five meters by a door with Borg alphanumerics inscribed. The corridors were so long that Janeway could not see their terminus.

The Borg woman disappeared behind one door while Seven led her to an adjacent one. But Janeway stopped and looked around, trying to find some way to remember her location since she did not read Borg alphanumerics.

Seven stopped short after realizing the Janeway remained apart. She walked back to her. There was no sway of the woman's hips, no smile on her face. Seven of Nine merely functioned and the realization nearly broke Janeway's heart.

"Kathryn requires regeneration."

"I require biomatter. I have to eat," she said. She tipped her head. "Do you remember when you had to eat, Seven?"

Seven seemed unperturbed by the implications of her transformation. "Follow us," she ordered.

Seven had only walked a few steps when she abruptly turned to the five drones following Kathryn. "Remain here."

"Our orders—"

"Have been altered," she said. "This troop will remain here or we will dismantle it, component by component."

The lead Borg's eyepiece gyrated but it remained standing where Seven had ordered and the five watched as she disappeared with Janeway behind another door.

"Are these crew quarters," Janeway asked, looking around.

"Drone alcoves," Seven corrected tersely.

"This is your alcove," she said, watching Janeway intently.

Kathryn raised an eyebrow and assessed it. It was small and Spartan. The alcove cast the only light in the room and that light was an eerie green. Since her time aboard Borg cubes, the color had always taken on a negative connotation. And it made her shiver now.

Nestled between a corner and a gray wall was a small bed with a simple red blanket and a pillow. It was neatly made in the Starfleet fashion and the gesture made Kathryn smile finally.

She looked up at Seven. "This is our alcove, isn't it, darling?"

Seven looked straight ahead and then around. "It is _our_ alcove," she repeated.

Kathryn reached up and touched Seven cheek. But the biting cold of her cheeks was unexpected like that of a cadaver and Kathryn snapped her hand away.

Kathryn stared into Seven's singular human eye, looking for the woman she knew. "I know you're there," she whispered.

Finally Seven looked down at her. "We are all here."

Kathryn heard the Borg echo and jumped back, banging her head against the metal wall. "I'm talking to Andy," she said sharply.

"Andy," Seven repeated.

"My Andy. Annika Hansen. The Deputy of Gweelee."

A corner of Seven's mouth trembled, but she never did smile.

"All right," Kathryn said. "That's a start so I'll take it."

Seven was about to speak when the alcove door slid open to reveal the Borg woman. She came in, glaring first at Seven and then at Kathryn.

"Janeway, Kathryn," she said. "Your presence on Liberati is disruptive to the efficiency of this drone."

Kathryn wanted to crook her finger and draw the Borg woman in and tell her: "I don't give a damn about efficiency." But then she had visions of either being assimilated or thrown off planet without Seven. Neither was acceptable. So she acquiesced to the Borg.

"What is your designation?" Kathryn asked.

The Borg drone blinked, as if she was surprised at the question.

_She probably is,_ Kathryn thought. _She's accustomed to the thoughts of others._ Kathryn turned slowly to stare at her spouse, who stood stupefied into drone submission again. In that instant, she understood the allure that befell Seven of Nine. _Oh my darling_, she mourned. She wanted to embrace her, but knew that was not the right way.

"I am One of Eight, Primary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero Two."

"Tell me, One," she said, with undue familiarity. "I'm curious about your society here."

Without any regard for the tight quarters or the proximity of a stranger, One of Eight entered awkwardly. She raised her hand, her assimilation tubules flailing about.

Janeway's eyes widened and she stepped back again, this time slamming her head. With nowhere left to turn, Janeway assumed a fighting stance, carefully eyeing the tubules. "What do you think you're doing?"

Kathryn's alarm brought Seven of Nine out of her stupor and her human eye enlarged about three times. She swiftly turned to find the menacing assimilation tubules and captured One's wrist in her own hand.

"Desist," Seven said through gritted teeth.

One tipped her head several times and Seven shook hers the same number. Finally, One spoke: "We will communicate more efficiently after assimilation."

"No," Seven said evenly at exactly the same time Kathryn did.

"It is more efficient."

"More efficient for whom?" Seven asked.

Kathryn turned to watch Seven's features. She could see the concern that Seven had for her and in the death grip she held her Borg superior. _She's still there_, she told herself. _But can I reach her?_

Finally, One withdrew her assimilation tubules and the arm when limp. Seven relinquished it but she was careful to stay between the two. _Or perhaps there is no room for her to do otherwise_, Kathryn thought.

"Am I a prisoner?" Kathryn asked, looking directly at One.

"No one is a prisoner," she said. "We are the Liberated. We unite ourselves for the common good and offer ourselves, our labor and industry, according to the gifts we possess."

"So Seven and I can return to the docking bay to catch a transport home?"

One's malevolent smile was triumphant and Kathryn didn't understand it until a moment later.

"You assume that we hold this drone against her will, Janeway Kathryn. It is you who are in error. You may leave us at any time of your choosing, but this drone is here of her own free will."

=/\=

The next morning, Kathryn was awakened by a nudge from Seven. "Your new duty shift begins in five-point-three minutes, Kathryn."

Kathryn sat up, her hair was mussed and her eyes bleary. "This feels like a midnight waking," she said.

Seven's eyes seemed to go unfocused and then she centered them on the figure in the bed. "It is now one hundred hours," she said. "Your internal clock is inaccurate. However, with the inadequate computational power of your limited biological brain, the margin of error was quite small."

Kathryn narrowed an eye at her Borg spouse. "Thanks, I think," she said.

"You must ready yourself post haste, as your duty shift begins in four-point-five minutes."

Kathryn jumped out of bed and began to rummage through her valise and then remove her clothing. She noticed that Seven did not glance at her body once, which she found to be insulting.

"So what do I have to do to get breakfast?" she asked.

Seven raised an eyebrow. "You have two-point-seven minutes until your duty shift commences," she replied. "It is doubtful there will be time for breakfast. Perhaps dinner will suffice when your duty shift ends."

Kathryn stopped. "How long is a duty shift, exactly?"

"A duty shift is nine-point-four-three standard hours," she said. "Or exactly half of the diurnal rotation of Liberati."

She took a ration pack out of her valise and put it in her pocket. She was going to need it. As she was brushing her hair, Seven began to walk to the door. "Your duty shift begins in one-point-four minutes," she said.

She turned to face Kathryn, who was stuffing her brush into the valise and putting on her boots.

"Perhaps at the end of this duty shift you should consider regenerating in your work clothes," she said. "Your pajamas are inefficient."

Kathryn gave a crooked smile. "Are you saying that after this duty shift, you go to bed?"

"No," Seven said, turning to lead them out of the alcove. "At the end of a duty shift, we regenerate."

Kathryn had already torn into part of the ration. The flavor was liver and onions and the texture was like rawhide. She wished she'd planned better and had brought coffee.

They were met by five other Borg drones, who fell in line behind Kathryn. "Am I three of Seven?" she asked with a bit of sarcasm.

"No," said a Borg ahead of them.

The troop came to stop beside One. "You are now a member of this new Unimatrix. You are Eight of Eight."

She studied One's face, seeing that if the age markers this drone's body displayed were accurate, she was probably about Seven's age. The Borg woman was watching Kathryn closely. _She's insulted me with so low a designation_, Kathryn realized belatedly. But Kathryn Janeway didn't care, of course. All that mattered was Seven. But perhaps there was something to uncover here.

The other five drones shifted to one side in total unison and marched forward. One lifted her brows to Kathryn. "Eight, you must take your place in this Unimatrix as we travel to our assigned section."

Kathryn was just about to walk to the end of the line, when One stopped her. "I am One of Eight and the drone you knew as Seven of Nine is no more. That drone is now Two of Eight."

"Two?" Kathryn said.

"Correct. Now you may assume your designated position," she said.

Kathryn glanced at Seven, but she was still facing forward, as if none of this concerned her. "I will comply," she said quietly.

_The back of the line was really a good place_, she thought, as she jogged to keep up with the brutal pace that One set. She was thankful that Powers had always carved out time for her cardios in the scheduling, because left to her own devices, Kathryn would unfit to keep up with these cybernetic organisms.

The Unimatrix was about three miles from the city, arriving by foot through a worn path of dirt and blue grass at the top of a hill. The class M red star was faint star, giving out only about half the energy of Sol.

Kathryn shivered and pulled the cowl around her head. She had prepared for the weather, knowing that Liberati orbited a relatively cooler star. She was dressed in layers, but that didn't stop the sharp wind from slicing through the wool.

"We will begin the survey here," One said, even as the rest of the Unimatrix had already started working.

She was speaking, of course, for Kathryn's benefit. "What should I do?" Kathryn asked One.

"You will calculate the gradient." One began to turn away when Kathryn cleared her throat.

One turned back and tipped her head at the human. "What is that sound?" she asked.

"I had a question."

"Then why did you not ask?" One turned to Two. "Are humans always this difficult?"

Two lifted a brow and glanced at her spouse. "When I served aboard the Enterprise, I was placed under the supervision of several humans," she said. "The Chief Engineer was particularly unorganized and frequently ruled by erratic emotions and the baser whims of purely mammalian creatures."

"It is a statistical impossibility that you did not seek to reunite with the Borg," she said.

Two and Kathryn shared a look. "I attempted to do so on one occasion."

"But you did not succeed."

Even Kathryn could hear the censure in One's voice. But Seven—or rather Two—did not seem perturbed by the disapproval, Kathryn noted.

When One began to walk away again, Kathryn did not bother again with a human affectation. "Where are my tools?" she asked. "And what is the purpose of the gradient?"

One turned again, contempt was so easily read on in her eyes and on her lips. "A drone does not require tools other than those provided by the Collective," she stated.

"I'm not a drone," Kathryn said the words carefully. "Nor am I a member of your Collective."

"Species 5618 has spread across the quadrant," One said. "Like vermin consuming without regard to its environment and eliminating its waste in the exact spot where it regenerates." She curled a lip in disgust. "Yet they are weak in and of themselves."

Seven made no reply, but she watched One carefully, while Kathryn studied her wife during One's rant against humans.

"Does that mean you aren't prepared?" Kathryn asked.

One shot her a withering look. It was interesting, Kathryn noted, that One could be a drone and an individual with all her emotions. It was a combination that was more insidious than she realized and she was, for the first time, glad that she'd brought Dani's optronic phaser. (It had passed through several customs checkpoint and even Liberati's scanners because it was polymer-made rather than metallic.)

It was Seven of Nine who intervened. "A more efficient task for Kathryn would be the realignment of the sensor relays at Junction Station Omega 74," she said.

Kathryn was grateful until two of the drones assigned to accompany her walked to the far end of the hill. The gently sloping hill on the one side had become a near bluff on the other and that was the location of the junction station.

"Ho boy," she muttered from the top of a fifteen meter drop.

She gingerly climbed down, while the two drones waited idly at the bottom for nearly 30 minutes, having traversed the steep descent quite expertly. The buffeting wind shears strained Kathryn not only against gravity but also vertical forces. By the time she'd reached the ravine floor, Kathryn's hands were a bloody mess.

The heedless drones pointed themselves in the direction of the junction station and they began to march over the gray rocks that littered the bottom of a ravine. The junction station was a square, gray room, encased on all sides by gray titanium. One of the drones interfaced with the controls through his assimilation tubules, gaining access for them all.

Kathryn saw what looked like a Jeffries tube descend into the earth and she sighed. She hadn't drunk water all day and her lips were beginning to burn. Despite the low heat output, the cool sun was still pumping out plenty of ultraviolet light to burn her lips.

At the bottom of the tube, the room opened up and lights turned on automatically to a fully stocked facility. The drones immediately found an alcove to regenerate. This meant she was alone for a few minutes anyway. She found a replicator station and her eyes misted.

She was not so in danger of malnourishment that it saved her life. It was that Seven of Nine had surely known of its existence in this location.

"Thank you, Seven," she said quietly.

Through trial and error she activated the Borg-alphanumeric buttons in the proper sequence. A cold glass of water and a ham on rye was replicated for her. She drank the water and ordered another before she'd even started the sandwich. She drank another glass of water and then decided to replicate a dermal regenerator. Her lips and the skin of her face were repaired and she recycled the medical device.

Then she turned to her original task of realigning the sensor arrays. It was no simple task, but fortunately, a sensor array was comprised of the universal components that allowed her to recognize it. She had stepped to it and began the tedious process of calculating the proper alignment by hand.

It seemed to be only a few moments, but she was nearly done when One, Two and three other drones converged on her location.

"Eight!" One said. "Eight's work in this detail is inefficient and will be reflected in all our duty reports. It is a poor reflection upon us all."

Kathryn looked up and smiled at Seven, who immediately frowned and looked to One. "I'm almost finished," she said, pointing to the sensor array.

"Do you know the time index?" One asked.

Kathryn glanced at Seven, who finally met her gaze. "No, I'm afraid my power to compute is rather inadequate," she said with no small amount of humor. "But I make a mean Klingon martini. Isn't that right, Seven—I mean, Two?"

Seven was already looking at her when their eyes met. It was almost the Seven she knew. She could see the amusement around the blue eye and the corners of the mouth. In fact, if she looked closely, Kathryn could see a tremor and a nearly non-existent bow of her lips. But it was there!

On the day in question, they'd drunk Klingon martini's on their honeymoon about a month after returning to the Alpha Quadrant. They were dining in their luxury hotel room on Risa and Kathryn had been on her second martini when finally Seven had agreed to try it. The former Borg drone had taken one little sip of the drink, made from gin and Klingon Bloodwine, and had spewed the contents of her mouth over Kathryn's white blouse. It had to be removed quickly, along with her bra, her pants and underwear, which lead to a rousing round of sex on the verandah.

One looked between the two women and her hatred seemed to boil over. "Two, how can we stomach the sheer incompetence of this biological creature? She is not only weak and ill-equipped to serve the greater cause of the Liberated. She is the epitome of everything we hold in contempt: individuality and no regard for the perfection we hold dear."

One pointed to the sensor array. "It remains misaligned by two microns as her calculations were in error."

"Two microns? Not bad for a wholly biological entity," she said with a smirk.

One glared at Kathryn. "She is so ignorant of our ideal of perfection that she wallows in her deficiencies."

Kathryn's smirk turned to a grimace when she actually perceived that Seven of Nine was actually entertaining the criticism. "But you're wrong, One," Kathryn finally said. "Humans and many other species have achieved their own perfection."

One openly scowled. "Name one example of this perfection."

"Music," she said. "Ode to Joy by the ancient Earth composer Beethoven—its name has a uniquely Borg designation: Symphony No. 9 in D minor. Oh," she said. "The music is exquisite, taking you from the delicate notes of a woodwind instrument to the crashing timpanis of exultation." Kathryn closed her eyes and hummed a few of the more famous notes. She opened her eyes to find One looking at her in open mockery.

"It was an homage to love by a deaf man of species 5618 who never heard a single note."

She closed her eyes again and whisper-sang a portion: "'Whoever has found a beloved wife, let her join our songs of praise!'" She opened her eyes to see Seven's and she smiled. "I think it's my favorite song now, just for that one lyric alone."

"Music is irrelevant," One said.

When Kathryn and Seven remained immobile by their mutual spell, One began to order the others to prepare for departure.

"We are returning to the cell," she bellowed.

The three drones collected the two who were regenerating and they positioned themselves in a line to leave.

"Two!" One roared. "It is time."

Seven stepped away without preamble for any recognition of the magic they'd just created between them. It wasn't until that night that Kathryn was certain she was reaching her wife. After Kathryn had eaten a bowl of gruel containing amino acids and essential vitamins that tasted like Neelix' better-than-coffee coffee, she entered their quarters, finding it only after she'd marked it with rocks she'd carried back from the hill site.

Seven had waited for her before entering her alcove. Kathryn hadn't been sure, but it seemed Seven had stared at her belongings arrayed on her bed during all of Kathryn's so-called dinner.

"Goodnight, darling," Kathryn said, jumping into bed with a full set of clothes on.

"Good night, Eight," Seven had said in a monotone. But just as she entered her alcove, Kathryn heard Seven humming a few bars of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and she smiled.


End file.
